Users claim rampant antisemitism on popular Chess.com application

Users have complained that one of the most popular global online chess applications is rife with antisemitism and anti-Israel abuse and the app is not doing enough to stamp it out, Channel 12 reported Sunday.

Chess.com has over 150 million users around the world and its app is available online from the Apple store and Google Play.

According to the report, there are thousands of examples of users changing their profile pictures to antisemitic themes such as swastikas or pictures of Hitler. Others have changed their usernames to phrases that are openly hostile to Jews.

A screenshot provided by Channel 12 showed one user called “jews_are_pigs” along with a picture of an Israeli flag being burned. The user joined the site in November 6, 2021, and the profile also carried a caption reading “Jews to Hell.”

Another example shown by the network included a user titled “HeroNazis.”

Chess.com said that it has zero tolerance for such abuse and is working to clean up the app.

A small example, but last week chess..com assigned me to play this person. "88" stands for "heil Hitler." What does this have to do with Palestine? pic.twitter.com/vovDAWsxHh

— TBD (@Octopodes314) November 12, 2023

Israeli user Tal Eden told Channel 12 that he tried reporting such instances using the app’s built-in feedback system but received no response from Chess.com.

Eden said he searched for the phrase “Nazi” in the application and found thousands of profiles that included the word.

“Every application with social elements is supposed to filter such content and today there are tools that do that quite easily,” Eden said, adding it is “strange” that Chess.com is seemingly not taking such action or responding to complaints about the abuse.

According to Channel 12, not dealing with the issue is apparently a violation of Apple and Google rules for apps offered in their online stores.

Chess.com told Channel 12 in a statement that the kind of content raised in the report is “very disturbing and not at all acceptable.”

The company said its guidelines ban antisemitic language or symbols “and we take these kind of violations very seriously.”

Chess.com said that it follows up on such incidents both manually and automatically but “regrettably, there is a small percentage that still manages to avoid the systems.”

The company said it would close the accounts reported to it by Channel 12 and that it was working to improve its filtering methods.

The Chess.com website includes forums where players can discuss using the app. As far back as 2018, some Jewish users were complaining about antisemitism and anti-Israel abuse.

According to Channel 12, there has been a spike in such abuse found in online applications since October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a massive cross-border attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and set off the ongoing war in Gaza.

Jewish groups and watchdogs have reported a rise in global antisemitism since the war started including physical or verbal abuse, as well as vandalism.