Yes, in a qualified sense: modern campaigns can resemble witch hunts when fear, misinformation, scapegoating and public punishment overwhelm evidence and due process. The analogy is disputed, however, because contemporary cases range from online harassment and political blacklists to lethal accusations in some countries; calling each one a witch hunt can obscure important differences in power, law and consequences.
Two lenses on the same evidence. Source weight and the primary source ratio show what each rests on.
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A broader reading argues that modern witch hunts include real-world persecution of people accused of witchcraft, as well as gendered and ideological campaigns that mark socially inconvenient people as dangerous. This view emphasizes power, misogyny and material consequences, while warning that a narrow focus on misinformation or online speech can understate ongoing physical violence and institutional control.
Contemporary witch hunts remain a global phenomenon, with reported accusations and violence in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Nepal and Papua New Guinea.
A feminist analysis argues that misogynistic language and digital tools can reproduce the older pattern of turning outspoken or inconvenient women into targets for collective punishment.
Legal scholarship describes modern political uses of “witch hunt” as a way for powerful actors to portray themselves as persecuted and mobilize fear around a political narrative.
Another critical interpretation extends the analogy to abortion bans, arguing that class and social control connect some contemporary policies to historical patterns of regulating women’s bodies.