Dr. Matthias J. Becker, a cognitive linguist, is the inventor and lead of the international research project "Decoding Antisemitism" at Technische Universität Berlin. This interdisciplinary initiative employs a mixed methods approach, integrating AI-based methodologies, to analyze the prevalence of antisemitism in mainstream online discourse across Germany, France, the UK, and the US.

Matthias began his academic journey with studies in Linguistics, Philosophy, and Literature at Freie Universität Berlin. Over the past twelve years, he has increasingly focused on antisemitism within media landscapes, particularly on social media platforms.

His doctoral dissertation, published by Nomos in 2018, meticulously examines the linguistic construction of national pride, antisemitic stereotypes, and the use of demonizing historical analogies within British and German discourses surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An English edition of this seminal work, titled "Antisemitism in Reader Comments: Analogies for Reckoning with the Past," was subsequently published by Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature) in 2021.

Matthias employs a diverse research methodology encompassing pragma-linguistics, cognitive linguistics, critical discourse and media studies, investigations into prejudice and nationalism, quantitative and AI-driven methodologies, as well as broader ethnographical social media studies. Throughout his scholarly endeavors, he remains steadfast in his pursuit to decipher the mechanisms behind the construction of implicit hate speech, often tacitly endorsed within various political mainstream arenas, and to elucidate the factors influencing its production.

Areas of Expertise

Antisemitism and Hate Studies
Quantitative and AI-Related Methods
Social Media Studies
Discourse and Media Studies
Applied Cognitive Linguistics; Semantics and Pragmatics, Semiotics
Language of Philosophy

Biographical information

From August 2020 Project Lead Decoding Antisemitism: An AI-driven Study on Hate Speech and Imagery Online, ZfA at TU Berlin, Germany

2022 Honorary Research Fellowship at the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism in London, UK; Academic Advisor at the Tel Aviv Institute, Israel

From 2019 Post-doctoral research project on antisemitic and racist hate speech on British mainstream news websites in the context of Brexit

From 2019 Postdoctoral Fellow:

Center for Research on Antisemitism (ZfA), Technische Universität Berlin

Vidal Sassoon Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

CENTRIC, Sheffield Hallam University

Haifa Center for German and European Studies (HCGES), University of Haifa

Weiss-Livnat Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Haifa

Center for Cyber Law & Policy, University of Haifa

2019 Research Associate at CENTRIC, Sheffield Hallam University

2018 – 2021 Book Review Editor, Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism (Academic Studies Press)

2017 Completion of doctorate with the title “Analogien der ‚Vergangenheitsbewältigung‘. Antiisraelische Projektionen in Leserkommentaren der Zeit und des Guardian”  (“Analogies for ‘Reckoning with the Past:’ Projections of historical atrocities on Israel in reader comments in Die Zeit and The Guardian”), Technische Universität Berlin. Published by Nomos in 2018, Summa cum laude

English version of PhD thesis published with Palgrave Macmillan in 2021: Antisemitism in Reader Comments: Analogies for Reckoning with the Past.

2016 – 2019 Researcher and Academic Advisor at AJC Berlin and the Senate Office Berlin

2012 – 2016 Researcher and PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics at Technische Universität Berlin, specializing in General Linguistics. Areas of interest include pragmatics, the language of the media and advertising, the coded language of antisemitism and nationalism, and (critical) discourse analysis

2005 – 2012 Student of Linguistics, Philosophy, Romance Languages, and Modern Greek at Freie Universität Berlin

Publications

Monographs

Antisemitism in Reader Comments: Analogies for Reckoning with the Past. London: Palgrave Macmillan 2021.

Analogien der „Vergangenheitsbewältigung“. Antiisraelische Projektionen in Leserkommentaren der Zeit und des Guardian. Baden-Baden: Nomos 2018.

Most recent publications

Becker, Matthias J., in print. Decoding Antisemitism in European Online Discourses: Similarities and Differences in the Reproduction of Stereotypes in British, French and German Mainstream Debates on the Internet. In: Consonni, Manuela/Weisz, Martina L. (eds.), Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism – ACTA, https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/actap/html?lang=en.

Becker, Matthias J./Ascone, Laura/Bolton, Matthew/Chapelan, Alexis/Haupeltshofer, Pia/Krugel, Alexa/Placzynta, Karolina/Scheiber, Marcus/Tschiskale, Victor, 2023. Celebrating Terror: Antisemitism online after the Hamas attacks on Israel: Preliminary Results I. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin. Center for Research on Antisemitism, https://doi.org/10.14279/depositonce-19143.

Becker, Matthias J./Ascone, Laura/Placzynta, Karolina/Vincent, Chloé (eds.), in print. Antisemitism in Online Communication: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Hate Speech in the Twenty-first Century. London: Open Book Publishers, https://decoding-antisemitism.eu/publications/announcement-anthology, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0406.

Becker, Matthias J./Ascone, Laura/Troschke, Hagen, 2022. Antisemitic comments on Facebook pages of leading British, French, and German media outlets. In: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (9, 339), https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01337-8.

Becker, Matthias J./Bolton, Matthew, forthcoming. Images of Zionism in the Age of the Internet. In: Shindler, Colin (ed.). Routledge Handbook on Zionism. London: Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003312352. 

Becker, Matthias J./Bolton, Matthew, 2022. The Decoding Antisemitism Project—Reflections, Methods, and Goals. In: Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 5 (1), 2022, 121–126, https://doi.org/10.26613/jca/5.1.105.

Becker, Matthias J./Scheiber, Marcus, 2023. Decoding Antisemitism – von der interdisziplinären Analyse judenfeindlicher Hassrede im Internet. In: Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung. Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung an der TU Berlin.

Becker, Matthias J./Scheiber, Marcus/Jensen, Uffa (eds.), in print. Imagery of Hate Online. London: Open Book Publishers (publication planned for November 2024), https://decoding-antisemitism.eu/publications/announcement-multimodality-anthology.

Becker, Matthias J./Troschke, Hagen, 2023. Decoding Implicit Hate Speech – Using the Example of Antisemitism. In: Strippel, Christian/Paasch-Colberg, Sünje/Emmer, Martin/Trebbe, Joachim (eds.). Challenges and Perspectives of Hate Speech Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Anthology. Berlin: Digital Communication Research, 335–352, https://doi.org/10.48541/dcr.v12.20.

Becker, Matthias J./Troschke, Hagen, 2022. How Users of British Media Websites Make a Bogeyman of George Soros. In: Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 5 (1), 2022, 49–68, https://doi.org/10.26613/jca/5.1.100.

Becker, Matthias J./Troschke, Hagen/Bolton, Matthew/Chapelan, Alexis (eds.), in print. Decoding Antisemitism: A Guide to Identifying Antisemitism Online, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature, https://decoding-antisemitism.eu/publications/announcement-lexicon.

Bolton, Matthew/Becker, Matthias J./Ascone, Laura/Placzynta, Karolina, 2023. Enabling concepts in Hate Speech: The Function of the Apartheid Analogy in Antisemitic Online Discourse about Israel. In: Ermida, Isabel (ed.). Hate Speech in Social Media. London: Palgrave Macmillan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38248-2.

Articles and contributions

Decoding Antisemitism: An AI-driven Study on Hate Speech and Imagery Online. First Discourse Report (with Hagen Troschke and Daniel Allington), 2021. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin. Center for Research on Antisemitism.

Decoding Antisemitism: An AI-driven Study on Hate Speech and Imagery Online. Discourse Report 2 (with Daniel Allington, Laura Ascone, Matthew Bolton, Alexis Chapelan, Jan Krasni, Karolina Placzynta, Marcus Scheiber, Hagen Troschke, and Chloé Vincent), 2021. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin. Center for Research on Antisemitism.

Decoding Antisemitism: An AI-driven Study on Hate Speech and Imagery Online. Discourse Report 3 (with Laura Ascone, Matthew Bolton, Alexis Chapelan, Jan Krasni, Karolina Placzynta, Marcus Scheiber, Hagen Troschke, and Chloé Vincent), 2022. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin. Center for Research on Antisemitism.

Decoding Antisemitism: An AI-driven Study on Hate Speech and Imagery Online. Discourse Report 4 (with Laura Ascone, Matthew Bolton, Alexis Chapelan, Jan Krasni, Karolina Placzynta, Marcus Scheiber, Hagen Troschke, and Chloé Vincent), 2023. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin. Center for Research on Antisemitism.

Decoding Antisemitism: An AI-driven Study on Hate Speech and Imagery Online. Discourse Report 5 (with Alexis Chapelan, Laura Ascone, Matthew Bolton, Pia Haupeltshofer, Helena Mihaljević, Jan Krasni, Alexa Krugel, Karolina Placzynta, Milena Pustet, Marcus Scheiber, Elisabeth Steffen, Hagen Troschke, Victor Tschiskale, and Chloé Vincent), 2023. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin. Center for Research on Antisemitism.

Decoding Antisemitism: An AI-driven Study on Hate Speech and Imagery Online. Discourse Report 6 (with Laura Ascone, Matthew Bolton, Veronika Bundzíková, Alexis Chapelan, Pia Haupeltshofer, Alexa Krugel, Iael Kurjan, Helena Mihaljević, Stefan Munnes, Karolina Placzynta, Milena Pustet, Mohamed Salhi, Marcus Scheiber, Elisabeth Steffen, and Victor Tschiskale), 2024. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin. Center for Research on Antisemitism.

Antisemitismus im Internet. In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ), 26–27, 2020, 48–53, https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/apuz/311632/antisemitismus-im-internet.

Antisemitism on the Internet: An Underestimated Challenge Requiring Research-Based Action. Justice, (64), 2020, 32–40.

Antisemitismus im Internet. Ausgangsbedingungen der Internetforschung und pädagogische Maßnahmen gegen Judenfeindschaft im Schulunterricht. In: Marc Grimm/Stefan Müller (eds.) (2020): Bildung gegen Antisemitismus. Spannungsfelder der Aufklärung. Frankfurt: Wochenschau Verlag, 81–101 (with Tilman Bechthold-Hengelhaupt).

Antisemitismus im Internet – eine unterschätzte Herausforderung mit wissenschaftlichem Handlungsbedarf. In: Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland (ed.) (2020): „Du Jude“. Antisemitismus-Studien und ihre pädagogischen Konsequenzen. Berlin: Hentrich & Hentrich, https://www.hentrichhentrich.de/buch-du-jude-antisemitismus-studien-und-ihre-paedagogischen-konsequenzen.html.

Beobachtungen zu Religion, Demokratie und Antisemitismus an Schulen. Erfahrungen von Lehrkräften in Baden-Württemberg und Nordrhein-Westfalen. AJC Berlin Ramer Institute, 2019, https://ajcgermany.org/de/broschuere/beobachtungen-zu-religion-demokratie-und-antisemitismus-schulen-erfahrungen-von.

Understanding Online Antisemitism: Towards a New Qualitative Approach (2019). In: Fathom: For a deeper understanding of Israel and the region, http://fathomjournal.org/understanding-online-antisemitism-towards-a-new-qualitative-approach.

The German Left and Israel. In: Armin Lange, Kerstin Mayerhofer, Dina Porat and Lawrence H. Schiffman (eds.) (2021): Comprehending Antisemitism through the Ages: A Historical Perspective, Vol. 3. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 411–442, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110671995-021.

Projections of National Guilt as a Form of Antisemitism in German and British Centre-Left Milieus: An Analysis of Readers’ Comments in Die Zeit and The Guardian as a Setting for Antisemitism and Historical Relativization. In: The European Journal of Current Legal Issues, 2019.

Antisemitismus im Internet. Erscheinungsformen, Spezifika, Bekämpfung. In: Günther Jikeli/ Olaf Glöckner (eds.) (2019): Das neue Unbehagen. Antisemitismus in Deutschland und Europa heute. Hildesheim: Olms, 151–172 (with Hagen Troschke).

Antiisraelische Schuldprojektionen als Schlüssel zum positiven Selbstbild. Israel perspektiviert als Wiederkehr europäischer Verbrechen in linksliberalen Leserkommentaren. In: Marc Grimm/Bodo Kahmann (eds.) (2018): Antisemitismus im 21. Jahrhundert. Virulenz einer alten Feindschaft in Zeiten von Islamismus und Terror (Europäisch-jüdische Studien – Beiträge, Band 36). Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 245–266.

Schuldprojektion im deutschen und britischen Nahostdiskurs. Leserkommentare der Zeit und des Guardian als Schauplatz von Antisemitismus und Geschichtsrelativierung. In: Eva Gredel/Heidrun Kämper/Ruth Mell/Janja Polajnar (eds.) (2018): Diskurs – kontrastiv. Diskurslinguistik als Methode zur Erfassung transnationaler und sprachübergreifender Diskursrealitäten. Bremen: Hempen, 288–308.

„‚Reich’ ist ein jüdischer Name“ – Kontinuitäten antisemitischen Sprachgebrauchs in den Neuen Medien (with Linda Giesel). In: Charlotte Busch/Martin Gehrlein/Tom Uhlig (eds.) (2015): Schiefheilungen. Zeitgenössische Betrachtungen über Antisemitismus. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 111–130.

Entlastungsantisemitismus linksliberaler Couleur – Israel-Hass in den Kommentarspalten von The Guardian und Die Zeit. In: Monika Schwarz-Friesel (ed.) (2015): Gebildeter Antisemitismus. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 117–134.

Antisemitischer Sprachgebrauch in Zuschriften an den Zentralrat der Juden und an die Israelische Botschaft. In: Nike Thurn (ed.) (2015): Literarischer Antisemitismus. Der Deutschunterricht. Friedrich-Verlag, 72–80.

Unternehmen und Ungeheuer. Über Konzeptbereiche dominanter Terror-Metaphern. In: Stephan G. Humer (ed.) (2013): Terrorismus A/D: Wechselwirkungen zwischen analoger und digitaler Sphäre. Winnenden: CSW-Verlag (Edition Digitale Wissenschaft), 63–81 (with Jan-Henning Kromminga).

Gewaltmetaphern im französischen Präsidentschaftswahlkampf 2011/12. In: Monika Schwarz-Friesel/Jan-Henning Kromminga (eds.) (2013): Metaphern der Gewalt. Tübingen: Francke, 197–214.