Research & Analysis

Disturbing memes and images created using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) are polluting social media with camouflaged hate and extremist propaganda. Innovations in AI technology, plus a wider range of tools available than ever before, have enabled the use of AI image generators for nefarious purposes—some of which have been coordinated and crowdsourced online. In the last year, one GAI feature has emerged as a favorite among extremists: The ability to embed shapes, symbols and…

Anti-Zionist student groups on more than 100 U.S. college and university campuses have established “encampments” in recent days to ostensibly protest Israel’s actions in Gaza and their academic institutions’ alleged “complicity” in those actions. College campuses have been the site of many tense anti-Israel protests and antisemitic incidents since the start of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terrorist attack. These…

Anti-Zionist activists in the U.S. praised Iran for its drone attack on Israel, using rhetoric similar to what was used immediately after October 7.

Conspiracy theories and antisemitic narratives have flooded social media in the wake of an Islamic State-claimed terror attack at a music venue outside Moscow.  On March 22, 2024, four gunmen attacked concertgoers at Crocus City Hall, shooting into the crowd and using explosives to set the building on fire, killing at least 130 people and injuring at least 140 others.  Hours after the attack, the Amaq News Agency, a propaganda arm of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), claimed…

Part of the ADL Center on Extremism’s coverage of the misogynist manosphere and its subcultures, each of which impacts women’s experiences of safety and equity – online and offline.     Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) is a distinct faction of the “manosphere,” the broad set of male supremacist, anti-feminist, misogynist and sometimes violent extremist movements that exist largely online. The MGTOW movement began online in the early 2000s when…

On March 13, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that could potentially lead to a nationwide ban of the popular social media platform TikTok. According to the bill, the issue stems from TikTok being owned by a “foreign adversary,” which poses a national security threat. TikTok’s China-owned parent company ByteDance would be required to find another buyer within six months to avoid the app being pulled from app stores in the US. While the bill has not yet…

On March 9, 2024, authorities arrested Frankie Rizzello Jr., a 20-year-old resident of Chesterfield, Missouri, on two felony charges related to property damage motivated by discrimination, one grounded in religion and the other in race. According to charging documents from the University City Police Department, Rizzello faces these charges for allegedly spray-painting a church and an Asian restaurant with graffiti in 2023.   In October 2023, after an extensive examination of user…

Research from ADL has documented in detail the rise in antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the weeks and months following Hamas’s brutal assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. One of the most insidious claims used to discredit both Jews and Israel is that Ashkenazi Jews (i.e., Jews who trace their ancestry to Northern and Eastern Europe) have no historical or genetic relationship to Jewish antiquity in the land of Israel—making Jews “colonizers” with no legitimate claim to…

The Nation of Islam (NOI) held its annual Saviours’ Day conference at the Huntington Place convention center in Detroit, Michigan, on February 22–25. As in years past, the event featured significant antisemitism, including from longtime NOI leader and keynote speaker Louis Farrakhan.  Farrakhan’s keynote address concluding the conference on Sunday, titled “What Does Allah, the Great Mahdi and the Great Messiah Have to Say About the War in the Middle East,”…

Though Salafi-jihadist groups like the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda (AQ) have a long and well-established history of making calls for violence against Jews, over the last few months they have capitalized on the momentum of the Israel-Hamas war to broadcast violent messaging, justify hateful rhetoric against the state of Israel and denigrate Jews around the world. Using their official media outlets, as well as supporter-produced propaganda, both the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have called on…

Part of the ADL Center on Extremism’s coverage of the misogynist manosphere and its subcultures, each of which impacts women’s experiences of safety and equity – online and offline.  Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) are a part of the manosphere, a broad set of male supremacist, anti-feminist, misogynist and sometimes violent movements that exist largely online. MRAs embrace traditional masculinity as the ideal state of men in society and vehemently reject the…

On August 26, 2023, Ryan Christopher Palmeter shot and killed three Black people at a Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida, before killing himself. On January 19, 2024, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department released the shooter’s “manifesto,” which he left behind for his family to find. The vitriolic, hateful writings show that Palmeter held white supremacist beliefs and demonstrated a wide range of hate, including racism, extreme anti-LGBTQ+ animus, xenophobia and…

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…