Instagram left up 93% of hateful and extremist content flagged by Anti-Defamation League researchers, according to a new report the watchdog released Wednesday ahead of a Meta shareholder meeting.

The ADL’s Center on Extremism submitted 253 reports to the platform earlier this year. Instagram removed just 11 accounts and 8 posts. In 20 cases, the company said it lacked the bandwidth to review the reports.

“Instagram is developing into a hub for hate and antisemitism, and our research demonstrates this clearly,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “Meta’s moderation rollback has created a permissive environment where extremists thrive.”

The findings follow Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement last year that the company would eliminate its fact-check program and reduce automated hate speech detection, a move he described as a trade-off between catching harmful content and avoiding false positives. Jewish groups including the World Jewish Congress and CyberWell criticized the shift at the time.

Among the content the ADL identified on the platform: at least 23 accounts spreading Islamic State and Al-Qaeda propaganda, 33 accounts with direct or indirect ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and 105 accounts affiliated with white supremacist Nick Fuentes’ Groyper movement, which together had accumulated over 1.4 million followers as of January. A Southern California merchandise company selling apparel bearing Nazi symbols had racked up more than 3.2 million views on the platform.

Meta’s community standards still prohibit violent organizations from maintaining a presence on its platforms and bar dehumanizing speech, but the ADL said enforcement has collapsed in practice. ADL senior vice president Oren Segal called the situation a “public safety crisis.”

The ADL is calling on Meta to reinstate proactive moderation measures against violating content.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)