Jewish Entrepreneurial Labor TikTok: Navigating Visibility, Identity, and Algorithmic Harm

Tom Divon^1*Jess Rauchberg²Gabrielle D. Beacken³Jessica Maddox⁴

• ¹The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
• ²Seton Hall University, South Orange Village, United States
• ³The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication, Austin, United States
• ⁴University of Georgia, Athens, United States

Identity work has become a marketable asset in the platform economy—one that must align with both audience expectations and platform logics to achieve visibility. Yet recognition-enabling systems also expose creators to harassment and suppression. To examine these dynamics, this study examines #JewTok, a TikTok enclave dedicated to mobilizing Jewish identity as a form of entrepreneurial labor shaped by tension and precarity. Drawing on ethnographic observation of 27 accounts and interviews with 12 creators, we identify two central entrepreneurial practices: (1) Jewish ambassadorship, where creators engage in cultural brokerage, community building, religious exploration, and justice advocacy to cultivate solidarity, translate traditions, and mobilize visibility; and (2) Jewish hardships, where creators confront algorithmic antisemitism while their content is subjected to surveillance dynamics that render Jewish life hypervisible, and stripped of context. The findings show that creative labor is especially precarious when tied to ethnoreligious identity—amplifying racialized hierarchies and rendering some voices increasingly (in)visible. We argue that creators navigate these volatile conditions in their identity work due to platform design and governance structures, which in turn transform identity into a precarious commodity sustained through entrepreneurial labor.