By Mark Pitcavage, Senior Research Fellow, ADL Center on Extremism
You may have noticed a lot of people are angry at the government these days. The government has certainly noticed.
The FBI and DHS have issued warnings about growing threats against government and law enforcement officials. The IRS has announced a security review of its offices around the country. The U.S. Capitol police reported nearly 10,000 threats against members of Congress during the past year.
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Intro
The ADL Center on Extremism (COE) has identified 40 white supremacist artists with a presence on Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming platform. Music has long been an effective way to radicalize extremists, allowing artists to both entertain and indoctrinate vulnerable listeners. At a time of increasing hate-motivated extremist violence, Spotify is not only allowing the racism and incitement of white supremacist music, it is actively promoting that content on its own…
Far-right and extremist voices have launched a significant attack against the LGBTQ+ community in 2021-2022, demonizing people via repeated false claims that LGBTQ+ people are “pedophiles” who are “grooming” children in order to abuse them. This false and malicious narrative has been weaponized to label the LGBTQ+ community as “groomers” and has fueled a slew of hostile legislation and policies aimed at erasing the discussion of LGBTQ+ related issues in…
As White House “United We Stand” Summit Begins, U.S. Conference of Mayors and ADL Renew CompactWashington, D.C., September 15, 2022 ... Nearly 150 mayors have renewed a 2017 pledge to combat hate, extremism and bigotry in their cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) announced today as the White House convenes a summit to address the problem head-on. The nation has faced an increase in hate-based violence and harassment – hate crimes…
Washington, D.C., September 14, 2022 ... Today, ADL (Anti-Defamation League) and the National Urban League announced the launch of the Community Solidarity & Safety Coalition (CSSC), an alliance comprised of non-governmental and non-partisan leaders that will work to collectively address critical community safety issues, especially focused on communities that have been targeted by hate-fueled violence. The CSSC will endeavor to shape community responses to solidarity and safety…
ADL also unveils interactive map displaying number of Oath Keepers members by state and position heldNew York, NY, September 7, 2022 … New analysis today from ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) Center on Extremism finds that the leaked membership list for the Oath Keepers, a right-wing anti-government extremist group, includes hundreds of elected officials, law enforcement officers, members of the military and first responders.
In September 2021, the non-profit journalist collective…
Immediately following President Biden's September 2, 2022, speech, far-right influencers and extremists responded online with hateful, bigoted rhetoric.
WESPAC (Westchester People’s Action Coalition) Foundation is a progressive nonprofit organization based in White Plains, New York that funds and supports community-based and activist initiatives. While bolstering numerous laudable causes that strive for racial, reproductive and environmental justice, among other efforts, WESPAC also serves as a major node in the funding and administration of campus anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and pro-Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) groups,…
Update: In late August 2022, Boston Children’s Hospital received a bomb threat via phone call, forcing the hospital and the surrounding area to go on lockdown. A bomb squad was unable to locate any explosive device and determined the threat to be a hoax. On September 15, 2022, law enforcement officials announced that they arrested the suspect responsible: 37-year-old Catherine Leavy of Westfield, MA, who referred to hospital employees as “sickos” …
In response to the recent fighting between Israel and terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), anti-Zionist groups around the world mobilized to protest Israel’s military operations targeting PIJ sites inside Gaza, with many groups specifically expressing outrage over the number of civilian casualties there. According to reports, PIJ misfires were responsible for the deaths of at least eight Palestinian civilians, and the Israeli military acknowledged responsibility for the…
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, denying Americans’ constitutional right to abortion. Immediately, antisemites and extremists saw the decision as an opportunity to attack abortion rights and to link their hatred of abortion to their antisemitism. Antisemites took to online platforms, some pushing age-old antisemitic tropes of Jewish control and conspiracy, while others demonized Judaism as a baby-killing religion.
This piece explores the phenomenon …
Do you have someone in your life who has been drawn in by a conspiracy theory? Has their behavior changed and you’re not sure how you can help?
Perhaps your parents have ventured down the QAnon rabbit hole and have become obsessed with trying to decode social media posts by public figures. They send you a daily stream of articles and YouTube videos about how the government is controlled by pedophiles who are running a child sex trafficking ring, and they’re especially worried…
President Biden announces "United We Stand" Summit after calls from ADL, advocacy organizations in the wake of the Buffalo shootingNew York, NY, August 19, 2022 … In May, following the tragic attack in Buffalo, New York, ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) worked with leading advocacy organizations including the National Urban League and the National Action Network to call on the White House to hold a summit on violent extremism and hate-fueled violence. ADL is incredibly grateful to see…
1. Torba is the founder and CEO of Gab, a social media platform and haven for hate and disinformation
Andrew Torba is the founder and CEO of Gab, an online hub for extremist and conspiratorial content. Since Gab’s inception in 2016, Torba has positioned the platform as a “free speech” alternative to Twitter and other popular social media websites. Because of the platform’s lax policies around content moderation, Gab quickly became known as a platform used by…
UPDATE 8/18: Following ADL's investigation, YouTube terminated both the First Works Baptist Church and Verity Baptist Church channels.
In recent months, pastors affiliated with the virulently antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ New Independent Fundamental Baptist (New IFB) movement have taken advantage of YouTube Shorts, significantly expanding the reach of their hateful content. Using this relatively new social media tool, some New IFB pastors have increased the average viewership on their…
Antisemitic conspiracy theories, particularly in regard to a Florida-based Jewish judge, are circulating widely online in response to the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago.
As the primary season comes to an end, the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) continues to monitor a range of candidates who hold extreme views, associate with extremists, spread disinformation and/or promote potentially dangerous conspiracy theories. In the course of this research, the COE has identified two particularly concerning failed extremist candidates who hold anti-government and white supremacist ideologies and have shared antisemitic views online.
These men did not openly express or…
An analysis of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' online GiveSendGo campaign shows that conspiratorial narratives and figures are motivating donors to contribute.
On August 11, 2022, Ricky Shiffer reportedly attempted to breach the FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the attack he fired a nail gun and brandished an assault rifle, fleeing initially in his car then on foot and exchanging gunfire with police. After a lengthy standoff in a cornfield, he was shot and killed by police.
Shiffer, 42, of Columbus, Ohio, is a former Navy sailor. He appears to be an extreme supporter of former president Trump who, like others, considered the FBI…
UPDATE: August 16, 2022:
Adam Bies, a photographer from Mercer, PA, was arrested on August 12 for making violent threats against the FBI on Gab. While the threats appear to be in response to the FBI search of Mar-A-Lago, there is no evidence that Bies is an extreme supporter of former president Trump. Bies, who has expressed strong anti-government and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments, does echo some QAnon rhetoric, claiming, for instance, that members of the federal government are &ldquo…