Elon Musk has branded the Anti-Defamation League, a legal group founded to combat antisemitism, as a “hate group.”
The tech billionaire made the comments on his social media platform X, while also railing against the ADL’s classification of Turning Point USA as extremist.
The ADL was founded in 1913 and, according to its website, aims to “stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”
The group is well-known for opposing pro-Nazi groups during the 1930s and for campaigning for civil rights legislation in the 1960s.
However, on X, Elon Musk claimed that the “ADL hates Christians, therefore it is a hate group.”
His post was in response to a right-wing influencer’s claim that the ADL “considers Christianity a hateful terrorist extremist belief.”
Both accounts were referencing a picture showing the ADL’s inclusion of the far-right ideology Christian Identity, not Christianity itself, in its “extremism and hate glossary.”
Christian Identity claims that God only created white people in the Garden of Eden and that Jewish people are descended from the serpent in Genesis. It has been connected to neo-Nazi groups, as well as the Ku Klux Klan.
Musk also retweeted several accounts defending Christian Identity, including one message chain between Matt Gaetz and Representative Anna Paulina Luna.
“This is wrong, @ADL. You are intentionally creating a targeted hate campaign against Christians,” Luna wrote, accompanying the post with a picture of the ADL’s website.
Meanwhile, the tech CEO also hit back at ADL classifying Turning Point USA in its extremism glossary, describing it as a “deeply wrong.”
Founded by the late Charlie Kirk, the non-profit group has experienced a surge in popularity since Kirk was assassinated on September 10. The state superintendent in Oklahoma has already announced plans to introduce TPUSA chapters in every high school in the state.
However, the ADL classified the group as being extremist because of its Professor Watchlist, a database designed to expose teachers and professors who have left-wing views.
The ADL’s website also points to Kirk’s scepticism about the validity of Joe Biden’s electoral win in 2020, as well as his promotion of conspiracy theories about vaccines.
However, his own AI chatbot Grok disputed some of his own claims about the ADL.
“No, there isn’t substantial evidence that the ADL hates Christians. Claims often misinterpret their glossary, which targets the ‘Christian Identity’ movement—a small, extremist group with racist and anti-Semitic views—not Christianity itself.
“Fact checks from Reuters and DW confirm this. ADL’s mission focuses on combating antisemitism and bias, and they’ve collaborated with Christian groups to reduce anti-Semitism in religious contexts,” the chatbot wrote.
The news comes after the tech CEO made headlines when it was revealed that his name is included in the Epstein Files.
Musk is listed as being a potential visitor to Epstein’s island, Little St James, in 2014. Epstein was convicted as a sex offender six years earlier.
In June 2025, Musk took to X to “drop the really big bomb”, claiming that “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files.” Trump later said that he was “very disappointed with Elon.”
The Independent has reached out to the White House, the ADL, and Turning Point USA for comment.
