Why Is X Promoting Pro-Hamas, Anti-Semitic Hashtags?

X marks the spot… for genocidal activism. 

X algorithms are seemingly promoting virulently anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist hashtags for users to insert in posts. What is particularly concerning is that hashtags can help boost viewership on the platform, and while X does censor constitutionally protected, conservative free speech, those same restrictions are apparently not applied to unprotected, literal endorsements of genocide.

Since Elon Musk bought X, the company has framed itself as a haven for free speech. but that is not entirely accurate. While X is more balanced on allowing numerous viewpoints than other platforms, it still suppresses, demonetizes, and fact-checks posts on a regular basis, often with apparent leftist bias. As Musk and his anti-free speech, World Economic Forum-tied X CEO Linda Yaccarino would say, that’s freedom of speech, not of reach. One mystifying result of X’s contradictory policies is the fact that the platform’s suggestion algorithms promote dozens of problematic Gaza-Israel hashtags, including some that are not in fact protected by the First Amendment, as they are explicit calls for genocide and terrorism. While X might be justified if its algorithms and platform were truly balanced and thoroughly pro-free speech, consistent censorship of non-violent political opinions contrasts sharply with uninhibited terrorist glorification. X doesn’t even enforce its own policies banning promotion of violence in this case—except when users call for the destruction of the terrorist group Hamas.

First, understand exactly why this issue matters. Ever since Oct. 7, 2023, the world has been inundated with a rising tide of dangerous anti-Semitism, reportedly jumping over 300%, from the Middle East to Europe to the U.S. On Oct. 7, Hamas jihadis beheaded and burned alive babies, kidnapped or gunned down entire families, and raped women to death. Unspeakable atrocities were committed by terrorists who came back to a hero’s welcome in Gaza, where the “civilians” flooded the streets to scream their ecstasy to the skies and to share sweets in celebration. Throughout the war, as always, an overwhelming majority of “Palestinians” have consistently supported genocidal jihad against Israel. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to steal or block aid and use Gazans as human shields. 

Palestinian Authority President Abbas assured Palestinians recently, “If we have a single penny left, it will go to the prisoners and martyrs”, i.e., terrorists. This refers to the authority’s “Pay-for Slay” program, which financially incentivizes and rewards terrorism, including the Oct. 7 jihadis. Ever since the invention of the “Palestinian people” in the 1960s to lay claim to land promised to the Jews by God as a “perpetual possession” (Gen. 17:8), legally obtained by the Israelis, and out of which a Muslim nation had already been carved (Jordan), this has been one of those rare instances in history where one side is obviously, consistently, thoroughly evil and unjustified. Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and the overwhelming majority of so-called Palestinians want to wipe Israel off the map specifically—and more generally to kill Jews and Christians—to transform every country they reach into an Islamic dictatorship. 

Using two separate accounts on April 7 and again on April 11 and 14, I found that typing in certain hashtags brought up distinctly anti-Israel and pro-Hamas recommendations from X. For instance, typing in "#Israel" brings up suggestions such as "#IsraelTerroristState," "#IsraelTerroristEntity," "#IsraeliWarCrimes," and "#IsraeliNewNazism." One promoted hashtag on April 11 and 14 was "IsraelTueLesEnfantsPalestinians," making the false claim that Israel deliberately killed Palestinian children. This is particularly disturbing after recent revelations about how Hamas jihadis brutally murdered Baby Kfir Bibas and his toddler brother Ariel before parading their caskets through the streets of Gaza for the delight of large, enthusiastic crowds of Palestinians. It's also worth noting that, while no explicitly positive hashtags were suggested for Israel, typing in "#anti" brought up only one suggestion apparently connected to anti-Semitism: "#antisemitisme". 

Meanwhile, although the hashtag "LetThemGoNow" has been used by multiple Israeli accounts recently to refer to Israeli hostages still in captivity, including by the state of Israel's own popular X account, typing in any part of "#LetThemGoNow" did not bring up the hashtag as a suggestion except once, on April 14. Again, this seems to undermine any claim that X is only promoting "popular hashtags." Why would it promote literally dozens of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas hashtags but not one of the popular Israeli hashtags? "#Holocaust" also did not trigger any suggestions.

Even worse, typing in "#terror" or "#terrorist" did not bring up any suggestions tied to Hamas or any other Islamic terrorist entity or nation, except once on April 9, when it suggested "#TerrorismBangladesh," even though Islam is certainly the number one ideology pushing or causing terrorism around the world and Hamas terror is constantly in the news and all over X. X did, however, bring up the suggestion "#TerroristIsrael" and also, on April 11, "terroristzionists." Anti-Semites who want to mask their hatred for Jews use the word "Zionist" to pretend they hate only patriotic Israelis. For instance, Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran, who backs Hamas and multiple other terror groups, often uses the word "Zionist" when smearing Israel and supporting Palestinian jihad. Similarly, typing "#genocide" brought up suggestions like "genocide_of_palestinians," "Genocide_By_Israel," and "genocidegaza." In reality, as noted above, Israel tries hard to avoid civilian casualties while Hamas openly avows genocidal goals against Israelis. Most shocking of all, typing in "#Hamas" consistently triggered suggestions that were variations on "#HamasFreedomFighters" on April 9 and 11. At least one attempt triggered the suggestion "#hamasterrorist" or "#HamasISIS" but not as consistently or as high up as the freedom fighter suggestions. 

On April 14, the Hamas freedom fighters hashtag was apparently no longer promoted, though suggestions for other Gaza- and Palestinian-related hashtags remained approximately the same, with entirely positive connotations. Therefore, it seems X’s policies banning all content that promotes or glorifies violence, violent entities, and terrorism are mere empty grand-standing.

Now contrast that bias in X's hashtag suggestions to its suggestions for Gaza-related hashtags. "#GazaGenocide," "#GazaUnderAttack," "#Gaza Holocaust," and "#GazaisDying" were among X's hashtag suggestions for the word "Gaza." Writing "#Palestine" or "#palestinian" triggered suggestions that included "#PalestinianLivesMatter," "#PalestineGenocide," "PalestinianHolocaust," and, most disturbingly, "#PalestineWillBeFree." The latter is a reference to the infamous terrorist chant, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." It encapsulates the Palestinian aspiration to own all of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and is well established as an endorsement of and call for genocide against Israelis, especially Jewish Israelis. X also promoted the same genocidal slogan in another language: "PalestinaLibreYa." 

Again, it is important to emphasize that, while some of the above objectionable hashtags are free speech, an explicit call for genocide is not free speech protected by the First Amendment. Why does X apply “freedom of speech not reach” to some topics that are First Amendment-protected, such as pro-life content, critiques of biological men in women’s sports, and commentary on Democrat officials’ actions, but not to many pro-terrorist hashtags and posts? This seems a very confusing and contradictory standard.

Finally, I want to expand upon my point that X claims to limit "hate speech," and yet has no problem promoting dozens of hashtags that support murderous terror groups or literally call for genocide. X's official policy since Elon Musk bought the platform has been the infamous "Freedom of Speech, Not Freedom of Reach." What this means is that content deemed "hateful" or "discriminatory" or "misinformation" by the platform's biased censors will be suppressed in various ways, including by limiting visibility, demonetization, downranking, and more. I have even caught X actively removing "likes" from certain tweets. And yes, X users are still being censored on a daily basis, despite Musk's much-vaunted "dedication" to free speech. Some of these cases are logged in MRC's CensorTrack database. Yet while Americans are censored for challenging transgender ideology, criticizing Democrat politicians' lies, and other perfectly legitimate and non-hateful conduct, pro-Hamas activists' slogans are promoted by X? How does that make any sense?

All that I could find in the X rules about hashtag recommendations was: "Algorithmically, Trends and hashtags are grouped together if they are related to the same topic." Yet, as noted above, there was no responding recommendation to "LetThemGoNow" for April 9 and 11, and nearly all the recommendations related to Israel were negative, while all the recommendations for Palestine and Gaza were positive. Clearly, something is very wrong with X's hashtag recommendation algorithm.

In May 2024, X restricted posts supporting rescue efforts of Israeli hostages and calling for the destruction of Hamas. X Community Notes further repeatedly imposed fact checks (which also carry the penalties of demonetization and suppression) on pro-Israel posts, including from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Shockingly, Elon Musk also rewarded Iranian terror sponsor and dictator Ayatollah Khamenei with top-level X verification and its attendant privileges after Khamenei gleefully celebrated Oct. 7 and praised Hamas terrorists who raped and massacred hundreds of innocent civilians at the Nova festival. Musk refused to reverse the awarded verification, which remains on Khamenei’s account.

Other Big Tech platforms have also displayed anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias. For instance, mere days after the Oct. 7 attacks, Chinese Communist Party-tied TikTok openly bragged about removing over 500,000 videos related to the Hamas-Israel conflict—indicating which side it targeted more by vaguely bewailing “acts of terror in Israel”, without highlighting Hamas atrocities, and mourning the alleged “intensifying humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza”. In October 2023, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram repeatedly censored content on Hamas atrocities, and YouTube also suppressed content exposing Hamas crimes. Back in 2021, Facebook deplatformed a pro-Israel page with millions of followers after a slew of anti-Semitic complaints. In November 2024, Facebook disabled the account of Israeli news outlet Arutz Sheva, accusing the outlet of targeting people “based on who they are,” after Arutz Sheva posted about Israel eliminating murderous Islamic terrorists.

Why is X refusing to enforce both its own rules and American law by targeting calls for genocide? Why is Israel so constantly targeted on X, even as so many pro-terrorist accounts, posts, and hashtags thrive and garner widespread viewership? Why, in fact, is “freedom of speech not reach” applied so unfairly to pro-Israeli, pro-life, conservative content while Hamas supporters are allowed to glorify vicious slaughter of Jewish babies and children?

(READ MORE: The Radicals Coordinating the $460 Billion Tesla Terror Attacks)