Dear John,

“[User Experience] designers and product innovators finally have a timely and coherent resource to guide us in building safer, more humane social software.”

That’s what Chris Messina, a renowned tech product designer and the creator of the hashtag as a social media tool, said in explaining why ADL’s innovative new Social Pattern Library is so important.

Why is the Social Pattern Library needed right now?

ADL’s most recent survey found that 41 percent of Americans reported having experienced online hate and harassment, often because of identity characteristics including religion, race or ethnicity. Our Center for Technology and Society released the Social Pattern Library today to give developers and designers who care about the continued rise of hate and harassment online a powerful new toolkit.

The Social Pattern Library shows how to build features into social media platforms that can be used to prevent users from disseminating hateful content and help users report hateful content — what we call “anti-hate by design.”

“This is a fantastic library. It asks all the right questions, proposes proven and well-researched approaches, and most importantly, puts it idea of creating a safe place for every user at the center of the discussion,” said Jared Spool, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Center Centre – UIE, a user experience design school. He plans to make the ADL Social Pattern Library a core part of their curriculum.

We know that social media has the power to do good. But too often, it is abused — amplifying harm and allowing vile, hateful ideas that were once confined to the fringe to spread rapidly.

The goal of the Social Pattern Library is to keep anti-hate by design top of mind for social platforms, user experience designers, developers, and product teams when they build out products that are used by billions of people every day. Social media platforms have a responsibility to help mitigate hate, and this groundbreaking resource from ADL gives them a tangible roadmap and turnkey solutions for doing so.

We are excited to share the news of this launch with you today, and we encourage you to dive more deeply into the Social Pattern Library as ADL continues to innovate new ways to fight antisemitism and other forms of hate.

Thank you,
Dave Sifry
VP, Center for Technology and Society
ADL