'Ban These Merchants Of Hate': #BanTheADL Trends On Twitter After CEO Makes Move To Begin Censorship Campaign

On Friday, the hashtag #BanTheADL began circulating on X (formerly Twitter), calling for Elon Musk to remove the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) after the group's CEO tweeted about meeting with Linda Yaccarino to discuss further censoring dissenting ideas that go against the organization's dictates.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, tweeted on Thursday, “I had a very frank + productive conversation with @LindayaX yesterday about @X, what works and what doesn't, and where it needs to go to address hate effectively on the platform. I appreciated her reaching out and I'm hopeful the service will improve. @ADL will be vigilant and give her and @ElonMusk credit if the service gets better... and reserve the right to call them out until it does.”

While he may word it nicely, ultimately to “address hate” means to censor any belief that disagrees with theirs. The group primarily deals with anti-semitism but that is far from the only social issue that they monitor. They’re strong advocates for pro-transgender legislation, pushing back against the numerous Republican-led legislatures that have passed laws in recent years that seek to restrict gender-changing surgeries and procedures for minors.

The hashtag #BanTheADL quickly began circulating around the social media platform, garnering hundreds of thousands of tweets in favor of a potential ban. Many noted how the group goes against many free speech ideals despite their claims to do otherwise, ultimately backtracking against the reforms brought forth by Elon Musk to favor freedom of speech. 

“If you want to keep hate off the platform then I guess you agree that we need to #BanTheADL,” Matt Walsh wrote. “I’m a big believer in holding people to their own standards. The ADL doesn’t care about free speech and thinks “hate” should be deplatformed. Okay then. Give them what they ask for.”

“Whatever it was in the past, today the ADL is a hate group that dons a religious mask to justify stoking hatred of the left's enemies,” TPUSA CEO Charlie Kirk wrote. “I believe in the First Amendment and free speech as a principle regardless of what the law says. I don’t want to ban anyone’s speech. But the ADL has no place extorting X/Twitter or any other social media companies, nor should it dictate to federal law enforcement agencies what hate speech is. The ADL itself is America's number-one purveyor of hate speech (and the SPLC is #2).”

Even Musk himself has commented on the movement, replying to a tweet discussing the move: “ADL has tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter.”

Some have attempted to dismiss the pushback against the ADL as a simple campaign “pushed by right-wing ideologies and rife with antisemitic content,” according to Rolling Stone. They published an article claiming that Musk’s takeover of the platform has led to the flourishing of “hate and toxic propaganda” on the site.

Of course, as hypocrisy seems to be the calling card of leftists, Rolling Stone is perfectly okay with pushing back against banning the group that advocated for the ban of former President Donald Trump, something that they happily declare on their website as an achievement. They say it’s an “antisemitic trope” to believe the group has any influence on the moderation and censorship of social media apps despite the fact that the CEO posted about holding a meeting with the X CEO to discuss moderation and censorship.

There are strong inconsistencies within the ADL and its pushes for social media moderation. Pushing for people or groups to be removed from social media is totally okay until the arrow is pointed at them, at which point it becomes anti-Semitism and hate. 

Allowing free speech everywhere, even if it’s not constitutionally mandated, is undoubtedly a positive, whether they like it or not. In order for proper discourse on a subject to be discussed, it’s essential to allow someone to state their beliefs in full no matter how politically incorrect it is. You can’t force an idea away. If it is allowed to go underground, it will only fester and become stronger until it can no longer be pushed under the rug. Immoral ideas can only be defeated by moral ones. Censoring your way out of that discussion is what causes such ideas to only ferment.