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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

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

Doxing Should Be Illegal. Reporting Extremists Should Not.

Article

January 15, 2021 We live more and more in digital spaces, so we have to work harder to distinguish protected online speech from unprotected online conduct. In the wake of the attack at the U.S. Capitol on January 6—an attack that was planned, mobilized and livestreamed online—this work has gained an even greater sense of urgency, especially when it comes to doxing. Many people define doxing as posting someone’s personal information online. But doxing as a blanket…

January 15, 2021

How Platforms Can Stem Abuses of Livestreaming After the Storming of the Capitol

Article

January 15, 2021 A livestream video shot by a newly-elected West Virginia lawmaker shows a disturbing gap between what a mob of Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol thought about the events of January 6 and what the rest of the world actually saw. Derrick Evans, a freshman member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, viewed fellow rioters swarming around him and forcing entry into the Capitol as a celebration. He was visibly giddy. But for horror-struck viewers, it was a violent…

January 15, 2021

Open Letter to the U.S. Department of Justice: ADL Calls for a Criminal Investigation of Gab

News

January 13, 2021 The January 6 attack at our nation’s Capitol was deliberate and coordinated. Individuals who broke the law must be held accountable, but we cannot ignore that social media platforms, like Gab, may well bear a measure of criminal responsibility for the attack as well. To the extent Gab intentionally served as a forum for people to plan, coordinate, engage in or otherwise facilitate the criminal activity that took place on January 6, a Department of Justice investigation…

January 13, 2021

Anne Frank memorial defaced; Christchurch attach report says New Zealand police failed to enforce firearm license checks; Facebook to start aggressively policing anti-Black hate speech

Article

December 11, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 The only Anne Frank memorial in the United States was vandalized Tuesday, a distressing display of hate that has prompted a police investigation. A report into last year's Christchurch mosque attack found that New Zealand security agencies were "almost exclusively" focused on the threat from Islamist terrorism, and police failed to enforce proper checks on firearm licenses. Facebook is embarking on a major overhaul of its algorithms that detect hate…

December 11, 2020

Extremist Trolls are Targeting Omegle Users with Virulent Racism, Antisemitism

Article

November 24, 2020 UPDATE: In July 2021, during a investigative radio show and podcast, Alex Mann, an Australian journalist for ABC’s Background Briefing, identified CatboyKami (aka Philip Hedley) as Tor Gustafsson Brookes. Extremists are constantly adapting and finding ways to reach new audiences, spread and spew their hate and create online content. Their latest tactic involves the use of Omegle, a free online chat service that randomly pairs anonymous users for…

November 24, 2020

Facebook’s Transparency Reporting Continues to Obscure the Scope and Impact of Hate Speech

Article

November 20, 2020 The latest Facebook Transparency Report, which covers July 2020 to September 2020 (Q3 2020), raises some alarming concerns around the prevalence of hate speech on the platform, leaving ADL with several questions that demand clear answers. ADL published a blog post about the opaque nature of Facebook’s transparency reports in January 2019. Many of the same problems that existed in the 2019 reports continue in Facebook’s most recent transparency efforts. …

November 20, 2020

Extremists Maintain Significant Presence on Facebook

Article

November 17, 2020 Facebook has been vocal about its recent efforts to suspend and ban hateful, conspiratorial and violent content from its platform. And yet a great deal of extremist content remains. As of November 16, 2020, even a cursory search of Facebook brings up white supremacist, racist and antisemitic pages. The following is a sampling of extremist groups and individuals currently active on Facebook. Antisemites and Holocaust Deniers: TruNews is a fundamentalist…

November 17, 2020

211 Crew

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Aryan Alliance, Brotherhood of Aryan AllianceGroup Status: Active The 211 Crew is a large racist prison gang based in Colorado. Its main tattoo (or "shield" or "patch") is a complex triangular symbol made out of interlocking arms, with hands grasping lightning bolts and the number 211 in the center. According to law enforcement, the name of the gang originated from the California penal code for robbery. However, members claim that 211 is a numeric code for BAA,…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Aryan Alliance, Brotherhood of Aryan Alliance

5 Words

Hate Symbol

The 5 Words refer to a phrase that some white supremacists advocate should be the only words ever spoken to the police: "I have nothing to say."

ALTERNATE NAMES: Five Words

Advanced White Society

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Legacy (the group is no longer active but some symbols may remain as tattoos, graffiti, etc.) The Advanced White Society is a small white supremacist group formed by a defector from the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. It is active primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region and in Ohio. Additional Images:

Alabama Aryan Brotherhood

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active The Alabama Aryan Brotherhood is one of many racist prison gangs that have adopted the Aryan Brotherhood name. It is an independent gang and has no connection to the "original" Aryan Brotherhood present in the California and federal prison systems. The primary Alabama Aryan Brotherhood tattoo or "patch" is in the popular "shield" format and consists of a shield-like emblem sporting four images, which could include the initials AB, SS lightning bolts, a swastika, an…

American Front

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active The American Front is one of the oldest continuously existing racist skinhead groups in the United States, dating back to the 1980s. In recent years, most of its members have been from California and Florida. Additional Images:

Jonathan Greenblatt's Opening Remarks at ADL's 2020 Never Is Now Summit on Antisemitism and Hate

News

Remarks by Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO November 09, 2020 Thank you all for tuning in today for the 5th annual Never is Now conference. There is so much to discuss, but before we get started, I want to pause and remember Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks who left us too soon this weekend. He was an extraordinary leader, a remarkable rabbi, a gifted scholar and a beautiful man. He will be missed. May his memory always be for a blessing. We gather today -- virtually -- at what feels like the start…

November 09, 2020

Aryan Circle

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: AC, The DiamondGroup Status: Active The Aryan Circle is the second-largest white supremacist prison gang in Texas and one of the largest such gangs in the United States. Its most common tattoo, known as a "shield" or "patch," consists of a square oriented to form a diamond shape. Inside the diamond is typically a swastika and the initials AC; it is also common to include SS lightning bolts. Because of this symbol, Aryan Circle members often refer to their gang as "The…

ALTERNATE NAMES: AC, The Diamond

Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active The Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood is a small white supremacist prison/street gang based primarily in Minnesota and Kentucky. Its main symbol consists of a helmeted and winged skull with the initials ACB. Additional Images:

Aryan Knights

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active The Aryan Knights are a white supremacist prison gang based primarily in Idaho. They often use the initials AK to identify themselves with tattoos or writing. Additional Images:

Aryan Nations

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Church of Jesus Christ ChristianGroup Status: Active In the 1970s, Richard Butler, a leader in the racist and antisemitic Christian Identity religious sect, moved to northern Idaho, where he created Aryan Nations (also known as the Church of Jesus Christ Christian), a white supremacist group that combined Christian Identity with neo-Nazism. In the 1980s, Aryan Nations became one of the most notorious white supremacist groups in the United States, thanks to its highly visible…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Church of Jesus Christ Christian

Aryan Nations (Tennessee prison gang)

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active The largest white supremacist prison gang in Tennessee calls itself Aryan Nations. The gang borrowed its title from the older neo-Nazi group of the same name, though the two are separate groups with few connections. The "gang" Aryan Nations is also far larger than the "neo-Nazi" Aryan Nations. The main symbol for this racist prison gang consists of a rounded Celtic Cross image with different symbols in each of the quadrants formed by the circle and…