As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies become more user-friendly, extremists and conspiracy theorists are using deepfakes, AI-generated audio and other forms of synthetic media to spread harmful, hateful and misleading content online.   Background & Definitions Synthetic media is media content which has been fully or partially generated by technology, typically through artificial intelligence or machine learning processes. This includes any…

Data compiled by the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) shows that QAnon-related content has surged on Twitter since Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform last fall. QAnon is a decentralized, far-right political movement rooted in a baseless conspiracy theory that the world is controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles known as the “Deep State,” which can only be stopped by former President Trump, and that these individuals will be brought to justice during a violent…

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,…

Preliminary research by the ADL Center on Extremism appears to show Mauricio Garcia, the suspect in the Allen, Texas, mass shooting, was obsessed with violence and subscribed to a range of extremist ideologies, including antisemitism, violent misogyny and white supremacy. An initial assessment of a massive social media trove, which ADL researchers can link to Garcia with a high degree of confidence, reveals a preoccupation with violence that manifests in a wide range of hate, including…

Throughout the weekend of April 14th, 2023, multiple rallies across the U.S. celebrated the annual Quds Day, or “Jerusalem Day,” a display of anti-Israel activism originally conceived by the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Many of the events descended into antisemitism and support for violence/terror against Israel. In several instances, rally-goers and speakers called for Israel’s dissolution, venerated members of terror groups and…

Some activities across the U.S. marking the 17th annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), which is a series of worldwide anti-Israel events spearheaded by the BDS Movement and rooted in antizionism and antisemitism, featured instances of overt antisemitism and expressions of support for violence against Israel. As is typically the case, anti-Zionist campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was the primary organizer of IAW, spearheading most of the approximately 16 apartheid walls…

It is an unfortunate fact that seven decades after Israel’s founding, some criticism of the country continues to promote age-old antisemitic tropes. Even before Israel was founded, conversations about the Zionist movement and the creation of the State of Israel at times included explicit anti-Jewish animus or espoused ideas historically wielded against Jewish communities (e.g., the claim that a “cabal” is manipulating political affairs). Today, many anti-Zionist activists…

Substack, a subscription-based online newsletter platform for independent writers, continues to attract extremists and conspiracy theorists who routinely use the site to profit from spreading antisemitism, misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. Platforms with more lenient content moderation policies, like Substack, provide fertile ground for the spread of hateful rhetoric and false information – a known catalyst for offline harm and violence. For example, seemingly fringe…

Shareholders of publicly traded companies in the United States have long proposed resolutions to encourage more responsible corporate behavior. These can include demands to divest from certain funds or entities, uphold codes of conduct or make tangible commitments to improving business practices. This type of activism dates to the 1970s and is used by a range of organizations to garner support for their causes. Anti-Israel activists and investors with anti-weapons investment screens or anti…

As quickly as hotel security removed white supremacist Nick Fuentes from CPAC 2023, the Groyper found another receptive audience for his antisemitism and racism. The "Fuentes Rally" took place on March 4, 2023, at Marriott’s Residence Inn at the National Harbor in Maryland. Reporters were not allowed inside the event. Although Fuentes and other Groypers bragged online that the event was at “venue capacity,” the hotel website indicates the capacity of their largest event…

On March 1st, the Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) kicked off a four-day conference in Washington, D.C. ­­– and anti-transgender hate was at the top of the agenda. The conference featured an array of speakers including prominent Republican politicians and policymakers as well as right-wing pundits. They were joined by conspiracy theorists like Jack Posobiec, purveyors of COVID disinformation like Dr. Robert Malone and anti-LGBTQ+ extremists like Chaya Raichik…

In the aftermath of the February 3, 2023, freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, a range of misinformation and unfounded claims has emerged as extremists and conspiracy theorists leverage the event for their own political and ideological gain. This includes the white supremacist and virulently antisemitic National Justice Party (NJP), which has capitalized on the outrage and suspicions around the Norfolk incident to organize protests in  Ohio and Georgia, promoting their…

•    Nerdeen Kiswani is an anti-Israel activist and co-founder and leader of Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine (WOL), a radical New York-based anti-Israel organization that routinely expresses support for violence against Israel. •    Kiswani’s antisemitism is clearly expressed via her expressions of extreme anti-Zionist rhetoric, including her calls for all "Zionists" to be vilified and expelled from community spaces, as well as her…

The Nation of Islam (NOI) held its annual Saviours’ Day conference in Chicago the weekend of February 24–26, serving once again as a platform for vitriolic antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry. Saviours’ Day 2023 marked the annual event’s return to a large-scale arena setting for the first time in three years; the NOI held smaller, semi-virtual conferences during the intervening pandemic-era years. NOI speakers injected familiar antisemitic and conspiratorial…