The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a prominent US Jewish advocacy and anti-hate organisation, removed over 1,000 pages of extremism research from its website on Tuesday night following online backlash from rightwing influencers and Elon Musk.
The now-deleted “glossary of extremism” contained entries on neo-Nazi groups, militias and antisemitic conspiracies, which now redirect to the ADL’s extremism research landing page. Musk and rightwing accounts had targeted the glossary over its inclusion of Turning Point USA, the organisation of slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk, and a page on Christian Identity, an extremist movement falsely conflated with Christianity as a whole.
The ADL did not directly address the backlash in its statement, claiming the move would allow the organisation to “explore new strategies and creative approaches to deliver our data and present our research more effectively”. It noted that many entries were outdated and some had been “intentionally misrepresented and misused”.
The removal comes amid intensifying criticism of the ADL from staff and researchers over its narrowing mission to prioritise pro-Israel policies and its repeated defence of Musk. The group has lost donors and seen a prominent executive resign after CEO Jonathan Greenblatt praised or defended Musk, who has continued to publicly attack the organisation.
Musk, who has long targeted the ADL and threatened to sue over its documentation of antisemitic content on X, repeatedly posted about the glossary in recent days, calling the ADL a “hate group”. The ADL’s glossary entry for Turning Point USA did not label it extremist but listed incidents of its leadership associating with extremists or making racist comments.
