Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, the leftist nonprofit that has become infamous for smearing conservatives and opponents of progressivism, has branded its online critics “white supremacists” and “anti-semites.”
Former Obama aide Greenblatt has been defensive recently, due to the popularity of #BanTheADL on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and sharp critiques from platform owner Elon Musk.
The hashtag represents a tide of popular animus towards the ADL, one long in the making. Hostility towards the organization, which has worked ceaselessly over the past decade to advance the cause of internet censorship and blacklist prominent conservatives, is widespread.
Elon Musk (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A key charge of the organization’s critics is that it casually labels even the mildest opponents of progressive causes “white supremacist,” “anti-semites,” and purveyors of “hate speech” in its efforts to discredit and censor them.
Greenblatt appeared to confirm those charges in interviews last week, when he applied those same labels to supporters of the anti-ADL hashtag.
Head of the Defamation League (fka ADL) Jonathan Greenblatt claims people who posted ‘#BanTheADL’ are “White Supremacists”.
The hashtag was posted hundreds of thousands of times and was the #1 trend.
That’s a lot of people to call “White Supremacists”
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) September 6, 2023
“A number of white supremacists [organized] this hashtag campaign Ban The ADL… This campaign went viral very quickly, with white supremacists, hardened anti-semites and other people spreading it across the service.”
The people supporting the hashtag include Blaze columnist Auron Macintyre, former MMA fighter Jake Shields, Jewish conservative influencer Laura Loomer, conservative video producer ALX, BlazeTV personality Lauren Chen, and anti-ESG activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek, amongst many others.
These are the people that Greenblatt lumped in with “anti-semites” and “white supremacists.”
The ADL is a despicable organization which engages in slander and has the obvious goal of destroying free exchange
It should wield no power on this platform #BanTheADL https://t.co/YC2CcBncRP
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) September 1, 2023
The ADL are notorious cry-bullies who use accusations of “extremism” to censor those critical of the left’s agenda.
How is that meaningfully different than bots who mass report/flag users?
They are bad actors whose only purpose is to stifle debate.
We need to #BanTheADL. https://t.co/sk8GVLFJYp
— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) September 3, 2023
It’s okay to be Mexican!
It’s okay to be White!
It’s okay to be Asian!
It’s okay to be Black!
Only one of these statements is classified as hate speech #BanTheADL
— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) September 2, 2023
.@ADL are you funding GDL?
Why won’t you condemn Azov Battalion?
What is your relationship with the FBI, CIA, and the Pentagon?
You refused to condemn Azov in 2022. Is it because you’re working with them to carry out Nazi psyops to trigger hate crime laws? #BanTheADL 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 https://t.co/Ru9TrkAQVE pic.twitter.com/7WQrRh6xko
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) September 3, 2023
The fact that #BanTheADL is trending shows how done people are with the “we’re labeling everything we don’t like as hateful/racist/dangerous/far-right” BS.
People aren’t afraid of your intimidation tactics anymore, @JGreenblattADL. Your labels have lost their power.
— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) September 2, 2023
Despite its documented track record of causing enormous financial damage to companies through its encouragement of ad boycotts, Greenblatt tried to portray his organization as powerless compared to Musk and X/Twitter.
“This is the wealthiest man in the world, running one of the most powerful media platforms on the planet. We’re a nonprofit here in New York… I think, figuring out who has the power in this relationship, it’s pretty clear to me.”
In the same breath, Greenblatt acknowledged the massive decline in advertising revenue for X/Twitter, drive in part by his own organization’s pressure.
Today, we are joining dozens of other groups to ask advertisers to pause Twitter spending because we are profoundly concerned about antisemitism and hate on the platform. Here’s why we’re asking advertisers to #StopHateForProfit and #StopToxicTwitterhttps://t.co/a83e2eTFwz
— ADL (@ADL) November 4, 2022
The ADL used the same tactic against Facebook in the summer of 2020, at the height of the presidential election cycle, complaining that the platform wasn’t doing enough to take down “misinformation,” and was allowing “political advertisements that contain blatant lies.”
When CNBC host Andrew Sorkin asked Greenblatt to respond to allegations that the ADL engages in “shakedown” operations against organizations like X/Twitter Greenblatt said the Jewish TV presenter had brought up an “antisemitic trope.”
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election. Follow him on Twitter @AllumBokhari.