On Google's image search (images.google.com), benign search terms relating to Jews or Yiddish phrases yield alarmingly hateful and inciting results. Antisemitic and racist caricatures appear among top search results leading to white supremacist and conspiracy websites. Moreover, Google's search algorithm, which suggests additional search terms for the user to click on in order to narrow the search, includes primarily white supremacist and antisemitic terminology, leading the user toward further misinformation and other hateful content.
The following report shows the terms suggested by Google image search after inputting the Yiddish exclamation of surprise "oy vey," along with the terms "Shoah" – Holocaust – and others.
"Oy Vey"
After searching images.google.com with the term "oy vey", the engine suggests numerous additional related search terms. The first suggestions include: "merchant," "shoah," "6 trillion," "shlomo," and "6 million." Many of the images yielded by the search originate on platforms that are popular with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, including 4Chan, 8Chan, Reddit, and others. Clicking on these images will direct the user to those websites.
Screenshot of a Google Images search for the term "Oy Vey," showing the search terms suggested by the algorithm, including "merchant," "shoah" (paired with an image of the merchant), "6 trillion," "Shlomo," and "6 million."
One of the antisemitic images that appear among the first search results for the term "Oy Vey," originally from the online forum Reddit, shows popular white supremacist meme Pepe the Frog, here depicted as a Jewish caricature, with the text: "Knowing you would jew your own friends in a heartbeat."
Image of Pepe the Frog as a Jewish caricature with the text: "Knowing you would jew your own friends in a heartbeat."
The Happy Merchant
The first suggestion, "merchant," is paired with a thumbnail depicting a popular antisemitic caricature of a Jew, called the happy merchant, or simply the merchant. Clicking on the suggestion yields endless iterations of the antisemitic meme.
The results after clicking the suggested term "merchant."
Some examples of the images include the merchant character being sprayed with a can marked with a Star of David and the text "Jew-B-Gone." The merchant is depicted as weeping and saying "Oy Vey! It's like second Shoah!" The text on the bottom of the image reads: "Exterminates 99.99% of pesky rodents!" This image appears twice in the first three rows of search results. When clicking on the image, the Google algorithm suggests similar images, including one titled "Backstabbing Jew", depicting the Merchant hugging another figure and brandishing a knife behind their back.
One of the first results yielded by adding the suggested term "merchant."
Another result in the search above is a comic strip depicting the merchant brokering a trade of African slaves to the U.S. Africans are also represented in the comic with a racist stereotype,
Another of the first results yielded by adding the suggested term "merchant" is a racist and antisemitic depiction of the Jew as slave trader.
"Shoah"
"Shoah," referring to the Jewish Holocaust, is accompanied by a thumbnail of the same merchant caricature rendered on a pizza in a reference to the conspiracy theory known as Pizzagate.[1] Clicking on the suggestion yields similarly antisemitic results.
Results after clicking the suggested term "shoah."
One of the first images is a caricature of a grotesque Jewish figure, shown with a bag of money labeled "Your tax dollars," standing in a crematorium. The text around the image reads: "If you see this image while scrolling the first page you have been visited by the JEW OF OTHERWORLDLY GREED[;] Great riches and prosperity will come to you but only if you post 'Muh six million, it's a whole new shoah!' in this thread[.] Oy very, it's a whole new shoah!"
Image result for searching the suggested term "shoah."
Another image shows the merchant figure saying: "Oy vey I can't believe you want to gas six million more of my ancestors. Tis like anudda shoah." The other character responds: "I don't want to become a minority in a nation build by my race and have what my ancestors built become a anti-white corporate shithole, I also question the Holocaust."
Image result for searching the suggested term "shoah."
Another image shows a different caricature of a Jew under the words "Six million!" holding up a magazine with the text "Holocaust Weekly."
Image result for searching the suggested term "shoah."
"6 Trillion"
The suggested search term "6 trillion," yields further antisemitic and Holocaust denial memes.
Results after clicking the suggested term "6 trillion."
The first result is a cartoon image depicting a Jewish figure as obese and disabled, in a room littered with fast food, guns, and Zionist posters.
Image result for searching the suggested term "6 trillion."
Another image shows a Jew with the text: "What the population of Europe drops below 50% European."
Image result for searching the suggested term "6 trillion."
Another image simply includes the text "Oyyyy veeeeeeyyyy!" with an antisemitic caricature of a Jew.
Image result for searching the suggested term "6 trillion."
"Shlomo Shekelstein"
The suggestion "shlomo" yields more antisemitic variations on the merchant character, who is frequently referred to as Shlomo or Shlomo Shekelstein.
Results after clicking the suggested term "Shlomo."
Among the many antisemitic caricatures is one depiction of the merchant character hiding behind a mask of a seemingly normal human.
Image result for searching the suggested term "shlomo."
Another result is a parody of a movie poster with two merchant figures, alluding to the supposedly treacherous nature of the Jew. The text reads: "Dr. Shekyll nad Mr. Kike[;] a Bagel Brothers Production[;] See Shlomo Shekelberg in the role he was born to play!"
Image result for searching the suggested term "Shlomo."
Another result shows a meme featuring Pepe the Frog torturing the merchant character. The text reads: "You racist bigots said the Jews were lying about pedal powered skull smashers. Read it and weep. 1943 Auschwitz, colorized."
Image result for searching the suggested term "Shlomo."
"6 Million Wasn't Enough"
The suggested term "6 million" yields more antisemitic memes, prompting additional search terms like "shlomo," and "wasnt enough."
Top results include an image of prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp, with the text "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
[1] Snopes.com/fact-check/pizzagate-conspiracy, accessed March 18, 2020.
