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How A Texas Teen Turned Bias and Body-Shaming into Advocacy and Action

Article
Female holding a sing in front of her face that reads "Together We Rise"
Olivia Julianna (who uses only her first and middle name publicly to protect her privacy) has been an activist for several years, advocating voting rights and reproductive-health care. Like many in her generation, she found the political side of TikTok where young people post about important issues facing them. Olivia is involved with Gen-Z for Change, a nonprofit organization leveraging social media to promote civil discourse and political action on a variety of topics including…
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What Is Swatting?

Article
Woman opening door to an armed SWAT team
Swatting is the deliberate and malicious act of reporting a false crime or emergency to evoke an aggressive response (often a SWAT team) from a law enforcement agency to a target's residence or place of work to harass and intimidate them. Alarmingly, swatting appears to be on the rise. Kevin Kolbye, a former FBI agent with expertise in swatting, estimates incidents have jumped from 400 cases in 2011 to over 1,000 in 2019. Unfortunately, the actual number is unknown because the FBI does not…
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Twitter’s Failure to Enforce Its Policy Against Antisemitism

Article
An investigation from ADL’s Center for Technology and Society (CTS) found Twitter did not remove over 200 blatantly antisemitic tweets accusing Jewish people of pedophilia, invoking Holocaust denial, and sharing oft-repeated conspiracy theories. To test Twitter’s enforcement of its policies on antisemitism, CTS reported 225 strongly antisemitic tweets over nine weeks through ongoing communications with the platform. Of the reported tweets, Twitter only removed 11, or 5% of the…
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Repeat Liars: Falsehoods Around Buffalo Shooting and the 2020 Election

Article
Whether it is about a global pandemic, the 2020 presidential election, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or the latest mass shooting, lies continue to thrive on social media platforms. According to a 2021 poll by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of Americans get their news from social media. While many people feel confident in their media literacy, YouGov found that only 4% of those surveyed could correctly distinguish false news stories from true ones. In order to assess platforms…
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Deplatform Tucker Carlson and the "Great Replacement" Theory

Article
In the wake of the horrific racist massacre in Buffalo, NY, Stop Hate for Profit is calling on mainstream social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Discord, and Reddit to immediately stop the spread of hateful white supremacist rhetoric that has incited acts of violence by permanently banning repeat perpetrators like Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and others from their platforms and enforcing their own hate speech policies with regard to the Great Replacement theory and white supremacy. This article describes the forms that the Great Replacement Theory takes on these platforms and the platform policies they are violating.
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Agnostic About Extremism: Tech Companies' Roles in Spreading Dangerous Content from the Buffalo Shooting

Article
On May 14, 2022, an alleged extremist streamed video footage online as he murdered 10 people and injured three more inside a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The shooter livestreamed his rampage on the social media platform Twitch, which Amazon owns. Preceding the murders, the shooter allegedly plotted his attack on the chat platform Discord and spread white supremacist dogma on fringe websites such as 4chan and Kiwi Farms.  After the shooting, a video…
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ADL Finds Facebook Posts Linking to Problematic Sites at Alarming Rates

Article
ADL Finds Facebook Posts Linking to Problematic Sites at Alarming Rates
April 11, 2022 Over a hundred million American adults read news on social media, but in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine, antisemitism, hate speech, and disinformation have spread widely on Facebook. ADL researchers found evidence of the continued presence of problematic posts on the platform, the most popular site for getting news, as well as the prevalence of external links directing users to alternative platforms and sites popular among extremists. Roughly 61% of these posts included links…
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What is the CROWN Act?

Tools and Strategies
African American mom helping son to study online
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current EventsThe CROWN Act is a law that forbids discrimination based on hair texture and hair styles. CROWN stands for: “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair.” Hair discrimination impacts Black people, especially Black women and girls in schools and workplaces who wear hair styles such as locs, braids, twists, Bantu knots, afros and natural hair. They are punished by discriminatory workplace and school dress codes and…
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ADL Launches Online Hate Index to Detect Antisemitism on Social Media Platforms

Press Release
Both Reddit and Twitter failed to remove over 70 percent of the antisemitic content ADL uncovered with first-ever independent artificial intelligence tool New York, NY, February 28, 2022 … The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Center for Technology and Society today announced the launch of the first version of its Online Hate Index, a machine-learning system that detects hate targeting marginalized groups on online platforms. The Online Hate Index represents the first independent,…
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ADL Statement on the Nomination of Judge Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court

Press Release
New York, NY, February 25, 2022 … ADL (Anti-Defamation League) today issued a statement in response to the president’s nomination of federal appellate court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director, issued the following statement: We congratulate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on her historic nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.  If confirmed, she will undoubtedly bring an important new perspective to…
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Facing the Music: Spotify's Rules Sound Cloudy

Article
Facing the Music
February 02, 2022 Spotify is in hot water for its support of controversial podcaster Joe Rogan. In January 2022, a group of 270 medical professionals wrote an open letter to the company accusing Rogan of spreading misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic, calling him “a menace to public health.” Soon after, legendary rocker Neil Young demanded that the company either remove his music or stop airing the podcast because it promotes false information about Covid-19 vaccines. The…
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13 Exceptional Kid Lit Books to Read for Black History Month

Tools and Strategies
A round up of books for Black History Month
January 27, 2022 Using children’s literature to teach about Black history and the Black experience is a great way to open the door to discussions about these experiences and milestones. These books include important insights into Black history, culture, accomplishments, notable people, historical and current day injustice and how that injustice was and continues to be confronted and overcome. Our recommended books include…
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ADL Collaborative for Change Fellowship Offers Jews of Color Opportunity to Share Their Stories

Press Release
New program seeks to expand awareness and understanding of how antisemitism and racism overlap New York, NY, January 26, 2022 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) announced today the inaugural class of Collaborative for Change fellows, Jews of Color who will receive up to $25,000 to counter bias and hate through film, research, and other projects. This fellowship seeks to expand awareness and understanding of how antisemitism and racism overlap and intersect in ways that are uniquely…
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ADL Welcomes Sentencing of Ahmaud Arbery’s Murderers to Life In Prison

Press Release
New York, NY, January 7, 2022 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today welcomed the sentencing of the three men responsible for Ahmaud Arbery’s murder to life in prison, saying the judgment sends a message that there will be serious consequences for acts of hate-motivated violence. Georgia Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced the three men found guilty in the death of Arbery to life in prison. Travis McMichael, who killed Mr. Arbery with two shotgun blasts was…
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Social Media Companies Frequently Fail to Flag White Supremacist Discussions of Jewish Power and White Genocide, ADL Finds

Press Release
New ADL Belfer Fellow analysis shows extremists can dodge basic social media filters by not using profanity New York, NY, January 6, 2022 … Social media content moderation efforts regularly fall short when it comes to detecting white supremacist speech, including discussions of conspiracy theories related to white genocide, Jewish power and malicious grievances toward Jews and people of color, according to a new report from ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). “This important…
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Remarks by ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on "Holding Big Tech Accountable"

News
December 09, 2021 House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce "Holding Big Tech Accountable: Legislation to Build a Safer Internet" Oral Remarks by Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO (Full written: View PDF here) December 9, 2021 | Washington, D.C.     Thank you Madam Chair Schakowsky, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and members of the subcommittee, good morning. It is a privilege and an honor to appear before…
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One Year After Ban, Holocaust Denial Remains on Facebook

Article
Holocaust denial on Facebook
December 01, 2021 UPDATE: As of December 9, 2021, Facebook has removed all nine posts reported on the platform in conjunction with our research.  October 2021 marked one year since Facebook banned Holocaust denial from its platform and officially classified Holocaust denial as hate speech instead of misinformation. On the first anniversary of this policy’s enactment on Facebook properties, analysts in ADL’s Center on Extremism (COE) sought to determine whether the…
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Holocaust Denial Persists on Facebook, One Year After Policy Change Banning Denial Content

Press Release
New York, NY, December 1, 2021 … In the year since Facebook banned Holocaust denial from its platform and finally classified it as hate speech instead of “misinformation,” a new ADL (Anti-Defamation League) analysis of the platform has found “cracks in enforcement” that have allowed Holocaust denial posts to still be accessible to many users. In the year since the October 2020 ban on Holocaust denial, Facebook has removed groups dedicated to Holocaust denial…
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ADL Social Pattern Library Offers Template for Social Media Platforms to Reduce Hate and Harassment

Press Release
First-of-its-kind resource contains design principles and user experience patterns that mitigate the spread of hate and harassment online New York, NY, November 18, 2021 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today announced the release of the ADL Social Pattern Library, a collection of design principles and user experience patterns intended to mitigate hateful content on social media platforms. The library, which will be a living resource, focuses on the design of social media products and…
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