August 10, 2021 July 2021: The statue of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, a putative impetus for the Unite the Right Rally, was quietly removed from its pedestal in Charlottesville. Image credit: Rev Seth Wispelwey Four years ago, on August 12, 2017, hundreds of far-right extremists descended on Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from the city’s center. “Unite the Right” was the largest and most violent public assembly of white…

August 06, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 ADL and Hillel International announced they are working together to play a stronger role in fighting antisemitism on campus. Antisemitic content is proving to be a persistent problem across social media as major platforms fail to protect Jewish targets, according to a new report that gives Facebook and many others low grades. ADL criticized remarks from US Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) as a problematic “dog whistle” when she alleged…

July 29, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3PayPal is partnering with ADL to investigate how extremist and hate movements in the U.S. take advantage of financial platforms to fund their criminal activities. A swastika was found carved into an elevator at the State Department, prompting President Biden to speak out. Unilever’s CEO wrote a letter to ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in which they made clear the company will continue to do business in Israel despite its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s…

July 09, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Police say scores of members of a white supremacist group marched in Philadelphia over the weekend, clashing with pedestrians and setting off what were believed to be smoke bombs at one point. The group of 11 militiamen who ended up in an hours-long standoff with police in Massachusetts on Saturday morning espouses a conspiracy-based, anti-government agenda that combines sovereign-citizen beliefs with those of the Moorish Science Temple. A rabbi is…

June 30, 2021 This blog post is the second in a series of three articles that will explore the unique challenges audio content moderation poses for platforms creating audio-focused digital spaces. The first article in this series focused on the choices around recording audio for the purpose of content moderation in audio only digital social spaces. This article will discuss how platforms can choose to review audio for content moderation. The third article will cover cautionary tales from…

June 11, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3  Antisemitic incidents more than doubled in May compared to last year following Mideast violence, according to new data from ADL. Online antisemitism grew significantly during the pandemic, with COVID-19 ushering in “a new wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories and hate in Europe,” the European Commission said in a report issued last week. Four members of the same family were killed in a pickup truck attack in London, Ontario in what…

June 09, 2021 In the past month, the American Jewish community has been under increased threat of violence and harassment. Early data from ADL suggests antisemitic incidents have increased significantly, both online and offline, after the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians returned to the national spotlight. We wanted to follow up on the survey we conducted earlier this year of Jewish Americans to learn about their experiences with antisemitism, online and off, to help determine…

June 09, 2021 Un nuevo análisis del Centro sobre Extremismo de la ADL revela que los incidentes antisemitas en Estados Unidos aumentaron a más del doble durante el conflicto militar de mayo de 2021 entre Israel y Hamás y sus consecuencias inmediatas, en comparación con el mismo período de tiempo en 2020.  Después de alcanzar un punto máximo entre el 20 y el 22 de mayo de 2021, el nivel de incidentes ha retornado gradualmente al nivel de…

June 07, 2021 New analysis from ADL’s Center on Extremism reveals that antisemitic incidents in the U.S. more than doubled during the May 2021 military conflict between Israel and Hamas and its immediate aftermath compared to the same time period in 2020.  After peaking between May 20-22, 2021, incident levels have gradually returned to a baseline level. These numbers should still be considered preliminary and are likely to change as additional information becomes available. …