ISD CEO Sasha Havlicek discusses the evolving threat of hate at the 2024 Eradicate Hate Summit

ISD Events

ISD CEO and co-founder Sasha Havlicek returned to lead the opening session of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Joined by fellow experts Mark Wallace, CEO of the Counter Extremism Project, and George Selim, Senior Vice President for National Affairs of the Anti-Defamation League, the session examined global challenges, including Hamas’ attack on Israel, the ongoing Gaza conflict, elections around the world, the Southport riots and natural disasters like Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Sasha, as moderator for the session, highlighted antisemitism as a central driver of the hate that emerges around these crises: “antisemitism sits at the heart – it’s a common thread across these forms of extremist activity.”

From left to right: Mark Wallace, CEO of the Counter Extremism Project, Sasha Havlicek, CEO of ISD, and George Selim, Senior Vice President for National Affairs of the Anti-Defamation League. The 2024 Eradicate Hate Global Summit was held October 21-23 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

“The State of Hate,” Sasha presented ISD’s findings on the surge of hate following the October 7attack on Israel. ISD reported a 50-fold increase in antisemitic speech and a 43-fold increase in anti-Muslim hate speech online, alongside a doubling of hate crimes against Jewish people in the UK and a 13% increase in hate crimes against Muslims. Sasha goes on to explain that groups like the Kremlin, Iran, and the Chinese Communist Party exploit such events for their own agendas.

Sasha went on to highlight social media’s role in amplifying hate and extremism. ISD found a 106% increase in antisemitism, a 69% increase in pro-ISIS accounts and a 69% increase in misogynistic and abusive accounts on X last year. This surge is fueled by the viral spread of disinformation, with Sasha noting, “we’ve seen this massive proliferation of weaponized hate off the back of viral disinformation.” She emphasized how “disinformation [turns] into weaponized hate at scale with offline impacts of enormous proportions.”

Social media platforms exarcebate these issues by repeatedly failing to enforce their own terms of service, amplifying sensationalist content and lacking transparency. Sasha advocated for legislation to regulate these platforms such as what’s been seen with the EU’s Digital Services Act. She said: “social media platforms have by and large failed to enforce their own terms of service” resulting in “a gap between the haves and the have nots in terms of regulation around social media.”

Find the full recording of the opening session on the Eradicate Hate Global Summit YouTube channel.

ISD’s Head of Research and Policy, Jacob Davey, ISD US Director of Threat Analysis and Prevention, Katherine Keneally, and Threat Analysis Intern Barret Gay also contributed to sessions during the three-day conference.