ADL: Internet Rumors About Microsoft Wingdings Are False Friday, September 21, 2001

New York, NY, September 21, 2001 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today again welcomed assurances from Microsoft that the Windows operating system’s Wingdings character font does not contain hidden messages, anti-Semitic or otherwise.

ADL has dismissed speculation about the Wingdings characters since 1992, when someone initiated a myth that Microsoft Windows 3.1 software contained anti-Semitic messages, including one set of symbols that purportedly spelled out "death to Jews."

Microsoft has been in contact with ADL to debunk another rumor circulating on the Internet that claims a certain character set within Wingdings refers directly to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

"If one considers that the Wingdings character font was created long before the disaster, this latest urban myth circulated on the Internet falls on its face," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "There is no truth to this rumor. Some people are intent on manipulating the Wingdings font to create impressions of hidden meanings or messages that simply do not exist."