Social media and the internet was a particular focus of concern over antisemitism and extremism in 2018. This is according to the December 2019 report from CST (pdf) on antisemitism discourse in Britain in 2018.
The report shows:
- The question of how to define antisemitism, and how to determine its relationship with anti-Israel language and sentiment, was a subject of widespread attention in 2018 due to Labour’s internal debate over whether to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance(IHRA) definition of antisemitism
- George Stoakley, a Conservative council candidate, was suspended by his party after tweets from 2013 came to light that included antisemitic and other offensive comments. Although the Conservatives suspended him, this occurred too close to election day for his name to be removed from ballot papers and he received 810 votes, coming sixth out of 11 candidates
- The Scottish National Party expelled a party member who was accused of writing an antisemitic post on his personal blog about Rhea Wolfson, a Jewish Labour Party activist and GMB trades union official.
