393 Results

Plot Targeting Sacramento Democratic Headquarters Highlights Continued Threat of Right-Wing Extremism

Article

July 16, 2021 On July 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that it had indicted two California men, Ian Benjamin Rogers and Jarrod Copeland, on charges related to an alleged plot to destroy the Democratic party headquarters in Sacramento with incendiary devices. According to communications between the two men, they were animated by grievance over Donald Trump’s loss of the 2020 election, and planned to conduct their attack after President Biden’s inauguration on…

July 16, 2021

The Unique Challenges of Audio Content Moderation Part Two: Static vs. Livestreaming Audio

Article

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 30, 2021

Al Qaeda Renews Its Focus on Antisemitism and Attacking Israel

Article

June 24, 2021 The cover image of Al Qaeda's article, "What is Behind the Normalization with Israel, the Mysteries of the Term and ِthe Dangers of its Machinations," shows a figure bearing the flags of Israel, the European Union, and the United States giving orders to bodies of news organizations, social media, finance, the United Nations, Hollywood and government. The notion that Israel and the West secretly control international organizations and the news media is a common antisemitic…

June 24, 2021

Moonshot & ADL Project Finds Anti-Black, Antisemitic, White Supremacist Internet Searches Peaked in Conjunction with Major Offline Events

Press Release

Elevated discriminatory traffic observed around Black Lives Matter protests, 2020 Election, January 6 Insurrection New York, NY, June 16, 2021 — Anti-Black, antisemitic and white supremacist searches spiked online as major offline events such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and the 2020 presidential election unfolded, according to a Moonshot and ADL joint report released today as part of an effort to understand how Americans search for white supremacist narratives and content. …

June 16, 2021

ADL Statement on Facebook Decision To Ban Former President Trump for An Additional Two Years

Press Release

New York, NY, June 4, 2021 ... ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today responded to the decision by Facebook to suspend former President Donald Trump for an additional two years following his comments inciting violence in the wake of the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director, issued the following statement: "While banning former President Trump is a step in the right direction, this simply doesn't go far enough. President Trump used…

June 04, 2021

Texas Man Arrested for Terrorist Threats Targeting Local Walmart

Article

June 02, 2021 Telegram image that appears to be Blevins wearing a swastika armband and T-shirt with seal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps On May 28, 2021, Texas authorities arrested Coleman Thomas Blevins of Kerrville after he allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting at an area Walmart. Blevins was charged with making a terroristic threat to create public fear of serious bodily injury. He appears to embrace a convoluted extremist ideology that includes elements of white…

June 02, 2021

The Unique Challenges of Audio Content Moderation Part One: To Record or Not to Record

Article

May 13, 2021 This blog post is the first in a series of three articles that will explore the unique challenges audio content moderation poses for platforms creating audio-focused digital spaces. This first article focuses on the choices around recording audio, and includes recommendations regarding Clubhouse’s current practices around recording. The second will discuss reviewing audio. The third will be on current approaches and models of audio content moderation that have been publicly…

May 13, 2021

Al Qaeda, Supporters Advocate for Lone Actor Attacks in the West

Article

May 10, 2021 On April 14, 2021, both Al Qaeda and the pro-Al Qaeda propaganda outlet Jaysh Al-Malahim Al-Electroni (Electronic Battle Army) released magazines that include articles about the cultural strife in America and the West more broadly. The articles touched on the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, the racial justice protests in summer 2020, and the deepening of American political divisions. Both articles portray the West as declining and divided. The Jaysh Al-Malahim article,…

May 10, 2021

Iran's Khamenei Exploits Twitter for Al Quds Day

Article

May 07, 2021 By David Andrew Weinberg On the last Friday of Ramadan every year, the Government of Iran organizes what it calls Global Quds (i.e. Jerusalem) Day, which it uses as an opportunity to spread horrific propaganda calling for the destruction of the State of Israel, as well as messages of support for terrorist organizations and a deluge of antisemitic hate speech. This year was no exception. On Friday, May 7, the main English-language Twitter account attributed to Iran…

May 07, 2021

Facebook upholds Trump ban; Former head of Neo-Nazi group sentenced for swatting; NYC synagogue vandal arrested on hate crime charges

Article

May 07, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Four months after his ouster from Facebook and Instagram, the suspension of former president Donald Trump was upheld by the Facebook Oversight Board. A former leader in a violent neo-Nazi group was sentenced Tuesday to 41 months in prison for harassing journalists who reported on his activities and others. Police arrested a 29-year-old man on hate crime charges in connection with the vandalization of several Bronx synagogues, which included the…

May 07, 2021

ADL Statement on Facebook Oversight Board's Decision to Uphold Trump's Suspension from Platform

Press Release

New York, NY, May 5, 2021 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt issued the following statement today regarding the Facebook Oversight Board’s decision to uphold Facebook’s suspension of former President Donald Trump from the platform: We did not need four months and an unaccountable, secretive process to tell us what we already knew: Donald Trump should be immediately and permanently banned from Facebook. Six months will not change the fact…

May 05, 2021

Pandemic gives rise to antisemitic ‘Zoombombing’; Federal hate crime charges filed in Ahmaud Arbery death; NY synagogues vandalized

Article

April 30, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 ADL counted 196 cases of antisemitic “Zoombombing” attacks in the U.S. last year, including 114 against Jewish institutions, according to its annual report released this week. Three Georgia men were indicted on federal hate crime charges in connection with the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot to death while jogging through a South Georgia neighborhood last year. Authorities in New York City are looking for the…

April 30, 2021

ADL Applauds Introduction of Social Media Transparency Bill

Press Release

Calif. legislation would require social media companies to publicly disclose corporate policies and key data and metrics on enforcement New York, NY, March 30, 2021...ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) welcomed the introduction of legislation from California State Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel that would require social media platforms to publicly disclose their content moderation policies regarding online hate/racism, disinformation, extremism, harassment and foreign interference, as well as key…

March 30, 2021

Asian-Americans Experience Rise in Severe Online Hate and Harassment, ADL Survey Finds

Press Release

ADL announces REPAIR plan to hold social media platforms accountable New York, NY, March 24, 2021… Asian-Americans experienced the largest single rise in severe online hate and harassment year-over-year in comparison to other groups, with 17 percent having experienced sexual harassment, stalking, physical threats, swatting, doxing or sustained harassment this year compared to 11 percent last year, according to a new survey released today by ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). Fully…

March 23, 2021

Twitter Must De-Platform Iran’s Supreme Leader

Article

March 19, 2021 By David Andrew Weinberg Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the Supreme Leader of Iran and an active presence on various social media platforms in multiple languages. And although he uses these accounts to spread hatred, violence, and dangerous disinformation – let alone his calls to destroy the State of Israel – these platforms allow him to keep doing so in seeming violation of their own policies. This is in purported deference to his status as a political…

March 19, 2021

Two Neo-Nazis, Including “Jew Slayer,” Arrested on Weapons Charges

Article

February 22, 2021 On February 5, 2021, the FBI arrested Christian Michael Mackey, an alleged member of neo-Nazi group Iron Youth, on charges of an unlawful sale of a firearm. Mackey allegedly attempted to sell his gun to someone identified to him as a known felon, but Mackey seemed primarily concerned that the buyer was “based”— which in this case means that he subscribes to white supremacist beliefs. According to the affidavit, Mackey allegedly incited others in an…

February 22, 2021

The Infrastructure of Hate: Epik Hosts Extremist Groups

Article

February 22, 2021 Social media platforms have received the lion’s share of attention for enabling users to spread hate and disinformation and plan and incite violence and terrorist acts. Flying under the radar are infrastructure providers like Epik, a domain registrar and web hosting company that works with nearly 750,000 websites and is ranked among the 50 largest web hosts. A domain is the address of a website you type into the URL bar of an internet browser. Domain registrars are…

February 22, 2021

Dangerous videos pushed on YouTube; Iranian textbooks more antisemitic than ever; Synagogue and Holocaust memorial vandalized

Article

February 12, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Google's YouTube is still recommending extremist and white supremacist videos to viewers already susceptible to racial hatred, a new report from ADL found. Iranian schools are teaching antisemitism, hatred and conspiratorial material in their textbooks, according to a comprehensive analysis by ADL. Police in Spokane, WA are looking for the person who painted swastikas on the Temple Beth Shalom building and a Holocaust memorial. Read on for more…

February 12, 2021

Despite Remediation Efforts, ADL Finds YouTube Still Amplifies Extremist Content

Press Release

New ADL Belfer Fellow survey shows white supremacist and other potentially harmful content is still recommended by YouTube New York, NY, February 12, 2021 … While YouTube has made efforts to remove extremist content, 9 percent of YouTube users who participated in a national study viewed at least one video from an extremist channel, and 22 percent viewed at least one video from an alternative channel that could serve as a gateway to extremist content, according to a new report from ADL …

February 11, 2021

ADL Supports Reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to Hold Tech Companies Accountable, Prioritize Users and Protect Civil Rights

Press Release

New York, NY, February 5, 2021 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) issued the following statement in response to the introduction of the “Safeguarding Against Fraud, Exploitation, Threats, Extremism, and Consumer Harms Act” or the SAFE TECH Act from Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and which proposes reforms to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that would directly address tech platform involvement in discrimination,…

February 05, 2021