Research & Analysis

By Mark Kumleben and Samuel Woolley  Propaganda Research Team Center for Media Engagement University of Texas at Austin Maggie Engler Global Disinformation Index Much of online speech today occurs on social media platforms like Facebook where a few companies have attained an outsized influence on what is permitted discussion on the internet. The rules and enforcement of the rules around speech on social platforms have far-reaching societal implications -- they can determine…

The May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism. As the demonstrations spread to communities across the country, so too did disinformation about the protests and protesters. In a time of national unrest and racial tension, these false claims intentionally sowed fear and division, while also undermining protesters’ efforts to build coalitions and bring about lasting structural change. …

Even in times of tragedy, there are glimmers of humanity. These moments of compassion, of kindness, give us hope for a better future for our children and our children’s children. Building a better world is what has motivated ADL’s work for more than 100 years, and what continues to impel us forward today. With that in mind, ADL’s professionals across the country have selected the decade’s Top 10 Moments of Hope in the United States. It’s hard to fathom how…

From the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013 to the white supremacist shooting in El Paso earlier this year, from the detention and dehumanization of immigrant children at the border to the largest anti-Semitic attack in United States history last year, this decade was bookended and interspersed by a series of all-too-frequent tragedies, many perpetrated by extremists from across the ideological spectrum and others the result of wrongheaded government policy. Over the past decade, seven of the top…

Hate-fueled mass shootings horrifyingly make up half of our 2019 Top Ten Incidents of Hate List. Three of the shootings took place in houses of worship: two synagogues, and two mosques. One of those shootings was on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur. Three perpetrators were white supremacists, two are believed to have ties to an anti-Semitic sect of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Two shootings were overseas, three of them spanned both coasts of the U.S. Hate spread across the…

Under intensified public scrutiny, white supremacists are facing a Catch-22: As individuals, they want to remain anonymous and invisible, but they need to promote their organizations and ideology. Their solution: Increased propaganda efforts, which allow them to maximize media and online attention, while limiting the risk of individual exposure, negative media coverage, arrests and public backlash. ADL’s Center on Extremism (COE) continues to track an ever-growing number of white…

On August 11, 2017, the world watched in horror as hundreds of torch-wielding white supremacists descended on the University of Virginia campus, chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” The next day, the streets of Charlottesville exploded in violence, ringing with the racist shouts of the neo-Nazis, Klan members and alt right agitators who gathered in an unprecedented show of unity. Their stated common cause: To protest the removal of a Confederate statue from a local park. Their…

ADL’s Center on Extremism continues to track a growing number of white supremacist propaganda efforts targeting college campuses, including the distribution of racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic fliers, stickers, banners and posters. The 2017-18 data shows a 77 percent increase of incidents from the previous academic year, with 292 cases reported, compared to 165 in 2016-2017. White supremacists have been actively targeting U.S. college campuses since January 2016, but the…

Data show incidents more than tripled in 2017 As of January 29, 2018 History White supremacists, particularly alt right groups, have been actively targeting U.S. college campuses since January 2016. The practice failed to get any real traction until the fall semester of 2016.  Since then, propaganda efforts have increased dramatically.   The propaganda delivers a range of messages: it may promote a white supremacist group, or trumpet the urgent need to “save” the…