Kanye West’s Antisemitic ‘Death Con 3’ Tweet Nearly Doubled Follower Count Growth Rate, New Research Shows

November 22, 2022

(Tuesday, November 22, 2022) — The rate of growth of U.S. rapper Kanye West’s follower count on Twitter nearly doubled after his threat last month to go “death con 3” on Jews, according to a new analysis conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) in partnership with the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM).

The study looked at what it called the “Antisemitism Attention Economy” and found that recent controversial social media posts by West, also known as “Ye,” and NBA basketball star Kyrie Irving metastasized populist Jew-hatred across the ideological spectrum, from white supremacists to Black Hebrew Israelites.

As a result, Jews are seemingly caught in a proverbial “Catch-22,” with acts to deplatform antisemites carrying marginal gains and extremist fringe communities merging into a shared conspiracy support group against purported Jewish “control” and “displacement.”

“This episode is sadly indicative of what Jews face in a world of increasing antisemitism online,” said CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa. “Firstly, rather than those involved in antisemitism are shunned, their popularity frequently increases, and they are made a martyr when they are called out on spreading lies and hatred.”

“Those involved in combating antisemitism needs to study these trends and ensure that hate does not receive an echo chamber, and that there should be a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism, much like there is to other hatreds, because any justification or dithering on Jew-hatred simply allows the perpetrators to be thought of as victims, and the victims as perpetrators,” he added.

For more information on the study, please see the following NCRI/CAM Twitter thread:

The rate of growth of Kanye’s follower count nearly doubled after DEFCON tweet

Toxic (@Jigsaw) tweets mentioning ‘Jew’ tripled since

🧵NCRI analysis Kanye, Kyrie and Contamination – Jewish Hatred Superspreader Event on Social Media.

In partnership w/ @ncri_io pic.twitter.com/19Cai9XSZc

— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) November 21, 2022