Ben Shapiro Warns the ‘Conspiratorial Right’ Is Taking Over Social Media
(Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the conservative outlet The Daily Wire, is warning that “rising” and “extraordinarily conspiratorial” elements within the right are becoming more and more influential, due to social media.
Shapiro spoke with The Jerusalem Post during a recent visit to Israel, shortly after President Donald Trump announced the hostage release and ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. He warned in the interview that “a conspiratorial right is rising” in the U.S.
While hostility toward the Jewish State from the left has been well documented, Shapiro said, “There is a part of the right that is extraordinarily conspiratorial and sees Jews as a conspiratorial force.”
The Post’s interview with Shapiro added:
“It is rising because social media rewards it. On X and TikTok, you often get more clicks if you push anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric.”
Shapiro said young people are drawn to the conspiracy theories because of the message “that the problems in their own lives are not their fault, and they can be solved by externalizing those problems onto a different group.”
In addition, “You get a lot more likes and clicks if you are promoting an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish agenda than if you are doing the opposite,” Shapiro said. “Virtually every conspiracy theory ends up pointing at the Jews because the narrative needs a villain, and it is easier to recycle an old one than to make an honest argument.”
Shapiro argued that the social media reward system “elevates the most inflammatory, fact-free content, then presents it as brave truth-telling.”
The Post wrote that “In an ecosystem designed to amplify the loudest voice, [Shapiro] is asking readers to listen for something else.”
“Stop treating people who tell obvious lies as brave for telling them,” Shapiro said, adding, “Defend what is worth preserving. Change what needs to change. Refuse the lie. That is the work of a free people.”
