ADL Articles

Owen Benjamin (aka Owen Smith) is a former mainstream comedian and actor who has embraced far-right conspiratorial and antisemitic content since 2018. He released a standup comedy performance on October 13, 2023, that includes antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ+ and racist rhetoric.  Benjamin, who starred in several films and comedy specials in the early 2010s, experienced significant success as a mainstream conservative comedian, and appeared in the movies The House Bunny and All’s Faire…

Since the 1970s, some shareholders of publicly traded companies have used “shareholder proposals” as a form of activism to encourage more responsible corporate behavior and to raise concern on issues that a company may not be adequately managing. Proposals can include demands that companies divest from certain funds or entities, uphold codes of conduct, improve disclosure on environmental and social topics, or make tangible commitments to improving business practices.   …

The 2023 shareholder season heralded a new element of shareholder proposals: conspiracy theories. The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) and National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) each filed such proposals; both are self-described conservative watchdog organizations. NCPPR’s primary focus is public policy research and education, while NLPC promotes ethics in government, advocating for limitations on “big government.”   NCPPR filed at least seven…

ADL and TTP examines whether four major social media platforms are potentially profiting from ad placements alongside searches for hate groups and extremists.

A deadly dispute over an LGBTQ+ Pride Flag in Cedar Glen, California, is just the latest attack in a landscape of rising anti-LGBTQ+ hate and extremism. On August 18, 2023, Travis Ikeguchi allegedly shot and killed Laura “Lauri” Ann Carleton right after Ikeguchi made anti-LGBTQ+ remarks about the rainbow flag outside of Carleton’s clothing store. Ikeguchi was later killed in a shootout with police.   An ADL Center on Extremism investigation into social media…

The ADL Center on Extremism is tracking an increase in antisemitic speech and trolling efforts at public forums.

On August 10, 2023, federal authorities arrested longtime white supremacist Hardy Lloyd in West Virginia. The arrest follows years of Lloyd’s incendiary and threatening online posts, but the charges are tied to his activities surrounding the trial of Robert Bowers, the white supremacist who murdered 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018. Lloyd is charged with obstruction of the due administration of justice, transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce, and…

1. Stew Peters is a far-right conspiracy theorist, radio show host, Christian nationalist and prolific antisemite.  Peters rose from obscurity to national prominence in 2022, thanks in large part to the success of several conspiratorial documentaries he released that year, most notably the anti-vaccine film “Died Suddenly.” Since then, Peters has emerged as one of the most influential right-wing conspiracy theorists in the United States, gaining public notoriety for his hate…

As they rack up littering charges for distributing propaganda, some individuals associated with the antisemitic and extremist Goyim Defense League (GDL)—including leader Jon Minadeo—have adopted pseudo-legal “sovereign citizen” tactics in a misguided attempt to escape legal troubles. The sovereign citizen movement is a far-right, anti-government extremist faction whose adherents claim that the government is illegitimate and has no jurisdiction or authority over them…

On June 10, 2023, eighteen white supremacists – from two different neo-Nazi groups - held three separate demonstrations in Florida. At least six participants traveled from out of state for the events, which took place outside Disney World in Orlando and at a park in Lakeland. These gatherings show how profoundly a small group of extremists can impact entire communities -- and make residents feel that the hate is local. At the gathering in Orlando, thirteen individuals associated with…

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…

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…

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 and…

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…

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…

Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine (WOL) is a New York-based, radical anti-Israel organization founded in 2015 that routinely expresses support for violence against Israel and calls for the abolition of Zionism.    Since Hamas’ brutal terror massacre across southern Israel on October 7, 2023, WOL and its co-founder and leader Nerdeen Kiswani have continued to share extreme anti-Zionist and antisemitic positions on social media and at anti-Israel protests as well as in…