How Meta's Content Moderation Practices Risk Turning Instagram into a Hub for Hate
Report
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a video to Facebook in January 2025 announcing dramatic changes to the company’s content moderation policies. In the clip, the 40-year-old executive shared his commitment to restoring free expression and to making sure that “people can share their beliefs and experiences” on Meta platforms. In reality, our research has shown that these policy changes have resulted in a dramatic increase of antisemitism and extremism on Meta’s…
“Create Just Worlds": Can We Break Extremism's Hold on Gaming?
Podcast
Episode 4.5: “Create Just Worlds": Can We Break Extremism's Hold on Gaming?Video games are supposed to be fun and provide players with safe, supportive communities. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, extremists are ruining gaming for everyone. On this month’s episode of extremely, Oren Segal and Jessica Reaves talk to Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat, Policy Advisor on technology and law at the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. Rosenblat studies the societal impact of…
The Terrorgram Collective: International Terrorists Promoting Violence and White Supremacy
Article
On January 13, 2025, the United States Department of State designated the Terrorgram Collective and three of its foreign leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), formally including Terrorgram among other international terrorist groups. Terrorgram is a decentralized network of white supremacist, neo-Nazi and accelerationist groups and individuals connected primarily through the encrypted social networking app Telegram, with the collective goal of promoting stochastic…
Deadly New Orleans Attack Fuels Conspiracy Theories About Immigrants, Israel
Article
The deadly New Year’s attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, left a city reeling and social media awash in hateful lies and conspiracy theories about immigrants, Israel and a government cover-up. In the early morning of January 1, 2025, 42-year-old Houston, Texas resident Shamsud-Din Jabbar, drove his car into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing at least fourteen people and injuring dozens more before he was shot and killed by police. While law enforcement is still…
Islamist Terror Incidents Targeting U.S. Increase in 2024
Article
January 2, 2025, Update: In the month since this article was originally published, at least two more Islamist-related terror incidents have occurred in the United States, including the deadly vehicular attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, on New Year’s Day 2025, which killed 14 people and wounded dozens more. The New Orleans incident was the deadliest Islamist terror attack in the United States since the 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which killed 49 people. Islamist…
Allen Gunman’s Writings Reveal a Disturbed, Hateful Man—But No Clear Motive
Article
On the afternoon of May 6, 2023, a gunman opened fire in a mall parking lot in the Dallas suburb of Allen, Texas. The shooter killed eight people and wounded seven more before a police officer shot and killed him.
Authorities later identified the gunman as 33-year-old Mauricio Martinez Garcia. Unlike some other recent perpetrators of mass shootings, Garcia composed no manifesto or document explaining the reason for his violent spree. However, he did leave behind voluminous writings,…
Right-Wing Extremists Eye Leaked Abortion Ruling as Opportunity for Violence
Article
The May 2, 2022, leak of the draft opinion overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling has animated people on both sides of the abortion debate. And as pro-choice advocates are vowing to protest the potential loss of reproductive freedom, right-wing extremists advocating for -- and in some cases threatening -- violence against them.
Responding to Buffalo Shooting, Far-Right Politicians, Pundits Parrot Extremists
Article
After news broke of the deadly white supremacist shooting in Buffalo on Saturday, May 14, 2022, extremists, politicians and ideologues offered their takes on the attack.
Elon Musk Plans to Buy Twitter. Right-wing Extremists Rejoice.
Article
Right-wing extremists cheered the announcement; they believe Musk will usher in a new era on the social media platform, free from “left-wing” censorship.
UPDATE, August 4, 2026: NSC-131 is now defunct. The group's last known activity was in April 2024. On July 30, 2026, the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office announced a final decree resolving its civil rights enforcement action against NSC-131 founder Christopher Hood, NSC-131, and 19 unnamed members for their conduct outside a Concord, New Hampshire, café that hosted a drag story hour on June 18, 2023. The defendants admitted that their activity that day – which included…
Key Points Incels are heterosexual men who blame women and society for their lack of romantic successA subset of the online misogynist “manosphere” that includes Pick Up Artists and Men’s Rights Activists, incels are known for their deep-seated pessimism and profound sense of grievance against womenThe incel ideology is rooted in the belief that women have too much power in the sexual/romantic sphere and ruin incels’ lives by rejecting themIncels are the most…