HATE WATCH | JULY 18, 2024

ADL Says Muslims & Jews Are Most Targeted Religions in Skyrocketing Online Hate

In their lifetimes, over 50% of Americans have experienced online hate and harassment—one of the grim findings that emerged from a recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

This year’s annual survey on online harassment shows that instances of cyberhate are rising and that the religions most affected are Muslims (47%) and Jews (34%).

Additional findings from the survey include that 41% of Jewish adults changed their online behavior to avoid being recognized as Jewish, while 63% felt less safe than they did last year.

Facebook maintained its dubious lead as the most common platform for harassment at 61%.

“The hate we’re seeing online doesn’t stay online—it causes real harm and violence in people’s lives. It’s high time everyone stepped up to keep communities and marginalized groups safe from hate and harassment,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

“Despite many promises made by online platforms, hate and harassment are still plaguing the internet.”

“The hate and harassment being reported on online platforms is horrendous; it’s getting worse, and it’s likely only the tip of the iceberg,” said ADL Center for Technology and Society Associate Director Daniel Kelley. “Even more concerning is the fact that this deluge of hate is happening as the platforms continue to scale back their content moderation teams and there’s zero transparency surrounding how tech companies are enforcing their own rules.”

As an example of social media’s failure to control its content, ADL reported finding loopholes on TikTok that enabled antisemitic content to remain available even after it was blocked. Meanwhile, X reinstated previously banned accounts over the past year, accompanied by less rigid enforcement of its hate speech policies.

Exacerbating the situation is that some platforms have restricted access to their data, making it difficult for impartial researchers to evaluate social media’s efforts to enforce their rules against hate and abuse. Reddit and X are two such platforms that have put a lid on public access to independent studies. According to the ADL, researcher access to data on social media platforms worsened over the last year.

“Despite many promises made by online platforms, hate and harassment are still plaguing the internet. Policymakers and big tech companies must deliver on their commitments to address hate and harassment online,” Greenblatt said.

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