Fewer hate groups identified in report that shows online shift

The number of hate groups in the U.S. declined last year, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which warned that the decrease does not necessarily indicate a drop in “bigoted beliefs.”

The SPLC said in its annual report that there were 838 active hate groups in 2020, down from the 940 cases the previous year. In 2018, the SPLC counted a record 1,020 groups.

“It is important to understand that the number of hate groups is merely one metric for measuring the level of hate and racism in America, and that the decline in groups should not be interpreted as a reduction in bigoted beliefs and actions motivated by hate,” the new report says.

The report was first shared with The Associated Press.

Many hate groups have moved online onto encrypted apps or have been removed entirely from major social networks, the SPLC said. That has allowed individuals to interact with hate groups without having to join them, resulting in real-world actions like the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol breach, the SPLC wrote.

Parler and other social media platforms popular with far-right groups have come under intense scrutiny following the Capitol insurrection. Tech giants Apple and Google removed Parler from their app stores, and Amazon Web Services took the website down.

The number of white nationalist organizations declined by 27 last year, according to the SPLC’s report, while the number of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ groups remained largely the same.

“What’s important is that we start to reckon with all the reasons why those groups have persisted for so long and been able to get so much influence in the last White House, that they actually feel emboldened,” Margaret Huang, CEO and president of the SPLC, told the AP.

The SPLC recommended in its report that the Biden administration establish offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the FBI that are dedicated to monitoring and prosecuting domestic terrorism cases.

Updated at 11:39 a.m.