The ongoing clash between Elon Musk and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reached new heights this past week, as the billionaire CEO of Tesla and owner of X (formerly Twitter) publicly accused the civil rights organization of being a "hate group" that "hates Christians." The controversy erupted on September 28, 2025, when Musk responded to a tweet suggesting the ADL considers Christianity itself a "hateful terrorist extremist belief." Musk’s blunt reply: "The ADL hates Christians, therefore it is a hate group."
This latest salvo is just one chapter in a tumultuous relationship between Musk and the ADL, an organization long known for monitoring hate groups and fighting antisemitism. The spark for this round of hostilities was the ADL’s recent decision to designate Turning Point USA (TPUSA)—the conservative youth organization founded by Charlie Kirk—as an extremist hate group. The ADL cited TPUSA’s promotion of Christian nationalism, conspiracy theories about election fraud and COVID-19, and its use of the "Professor Watchlist" to target educators accused of spreading leftist or "anti-American" ideas, including Critical Race Theory and progressive gender ideology.
According to Economic Times, the ADL’s Center on Extremism explained, "Turning Point USA appeals to a wide range of conservatives, from moderate Republicans to the far-right," but its platform has also "served as a vast platform for extremists and far-right conspiracy theorists." The group’s aggressive tactics—especially its targeting of educators—have drawn significant criticism from civil rights groups, but TPUSA’s defenders argue it is merely fighting back against what they see as leftist indoctrination in American schools.
The ADL’s classification of TPUSA as an extremist group triggered immediate backlash from prominent conservative figures. Donald Trump Jr., son of former President Donald Trump, denounced the ADL’s move as a politically motivated "attack" on conservative youth activism. He praised TPUSA’s mission and emphasized the group’s growing influence in American education, calling out what he sees as a double standard in how left- and right-wing activism are treated.
Elon Musk, never one to shy away from controversy, escalated the situation by branding the ADL itself a "hate group" and accusing it of hating Christians. Musk’s accusation stemmed from a misunderstanding—or perhaps a deliberate conflation—of the ADL’s documentation of the extremist Christian Identity movement with mainstream Christianity. The ADL’s page on Christian Identity describes it as an extremist ideology that holds racist and antisemitic beliefs, including the notion that Jews are the satanic offspring of Eve and the Serpent from the Garden of Eden. The ADL has been clear that Christian Identity is an extremist fringe and bears no resemblance to mainstream Christian denominations.
In a statement posted to X, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt responded to Musk’s accusation, calling the claim that the ADL is anti-Christian "offensive and wrong." Greenblatt emphasized, "Many of our staff members are Christian. Many of our supporters are Christian. We are blessed to work with many Christian brothers and sisters in the shared fight against antisemitism and all forms of hate. In contrast, the Christian Identity movement is an antisemitic, racist, and unambiguously poisonous ideology. Its values bear no resemblance to those of any mainstream Christian denomination." According to Gizmodo, replies to both the ADL’s and Greenblatt’s tweets were turned off, likely due to the surge of extremist activity on X since Musk’s acquisition of the platform in late 2022.
The online feud has spilled over into broader political and media circles. Conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, for instance, replied to Musk’s tweet by calling for the ADL to be "designated as a domestic terror org." Meanwhile, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, accused the ADL of "intentionally creating a targeted hate campaign against Christians." These voices, amplified by Musk’s retweets, have helped galvanize a segment of the American right against the ADL and its work.
This is not the first time Musk has tangled with the ADL. In 2023, Musk endorsed a tweet suggesting that Jewish communities had been pushing "hatred against whites," and he accused the ADL of "unjustly attack[ing] the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel." He has also threatened to sue the ADL, blaming the group for scaring advertisers away from X. More recently, Musk demanded that the ADL remove Turning Point USA from its list of extremist groups, tweeting, "The ADL needs to change this now." X, for its part, did not respond to media requests for comment about Musk’s latest remarks.
The social media giant’s new moderation policies under Musk have also come under fire. According to Gizmodo, Musk has welcomed back previously banned white supremacists, including Nick Fuentes, who has used his reinstated platform to spread antisemitic hate and praise Adolf Hitler. Groups like X Out the Hate have called for tech giants like Apple and Google to remove X from their app stores, citing Musk’s "Nazi salute," Holocaust "jokes," and support for Germany’s far-right AfD party as evidence of his extremism. "Almost daily, he spreads heinous conspiracy theories like the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, promotes neo-Nazis, and agrees with tweets claiming Jews push hate against white people," X Out the Hate wrote in February.
Interestingly, even Musk’s own AI chatbot, Grok, has contradicted some of his claims. As reported by Economic Times, Grok clarified that the ADL’s mission is to combat antisemitism and extremism, and that the organization targets extremist fringe groups—not Christianity as a whole. This internal contradiction has not stopped Musk from continuing his attacks, however.
The ADL, for its part, has sought to clarify its position on Christian Identity and mainstream Christianity, but the organization’s efforts to separate the two have so far failed to quell the outrage among some conservative circles. The debate over TPUSA’s designation as an extremist group has become a flashpoint in the broader culture war over free speech, the boundaries of acceptable political activism, and the role of watchdog groups in American public life.
The controversy also underscores the shifting landscape of online discourse. Since Musk’s takeover, X has seen a marked increase in extremist content, with critics arguing that lax moderation has allowed hate speech and conspiracy theories to flourish. The ADL’s decision to turn off replies to its tweets is just one sign of the challenges facing organizations trying to counter hate in an increasingly polarized and volatile digital environment.
As the feud rages on, it remains to be seen whether either side will back down or whether the conflict will only intensify. For now, the battle lines are clearly drawn: on one side, a billionaire tech mogul wielding the world’s most influential social media platform; on the other, a century-old civil rights organization determined to call out hate wherever it sees it. The stakes, both for online discourse and for the future of political activism in America, could hardly be higher.
