Anti-Defamation League adds echo symbol to list of hate symbols
The (((echo))) symbol has been used to single out Jews on Twitter, the civil rights organization says.
The Anti-Defamation League has added the echo symbol, denoted by triple parentheses, to its database of online hate symbols.
The civil rights organization said the symbol -- with a name inserted into triple parentheses as such (((NAME))) -- has become popular with white supremacists and anti-Semites to single out Jews on Twitter and other social media sites. The symbol originated in an anti-Semitic podcast in 2014, but its use has grown in recent weeks as part of pattern of harassment directed at a group of journalists.
"The echo symbol is the online equivalent of tagging a building with anti-Semitic graffiti or taunting someone verbally," Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the ADL's chief executive, said in a statement.
The ADL's move comes a few days after Google pulled a controversial browser extension called "Coincidence Detector" that was used to identify and track Jewish people online. The app was shut down Thursday after Google determined that it violated prohibitions against speech that promotes hate or incites violence.