The Center for Countering Digital Hate, which does not disclose its donors, has lobbied US lawmakers to create a ‘digital regulator’
The left-wing philanthropy funded by George Soros, Open Society Foundations (OSF), bankrolls a British nonprofit that works to censor conservative news websites and social media companies, including through a plot to “kill” Elon Musk’s X by pressuring advertisers and investors to boycott the company.
OSF gave $250,000 last year to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) for “general support,” according to the Soros charity’s grant database. The CCDH, under the guise of stopping “the spread of online hate and disinformation,” has pressured social media companies’ investors and advertisers to censor supposed “disinformation” or other content it deems to be offensive.
The organization, founded by former Labour Party operative Imran Ahmed in 2018, has also pressured tech companies to pull advertisements from the conservative websites the Federalist and the Daily Wire over allegedly racist content.
The grant, which has not been reported, could resurrect a longstanding battle that Musk has waged with both the CCDH and Soros. Musk has accused Soros of “crimes against humanity” and funding groups involved in violent protests across the country this year. And he has called the CCDH a “criminal organization” and said he was “going after” the group’s donors over its efforts to harm X’s finances.
Last year, the CCDH quietly organized a campaign to “kill Musk’s Twitter” by pressuring advertisers to cut ties with the company, according to memos published by Racket News. The CCDH, which the watchdog group Capital Research Center calls a “UK-based censorship advocacy group,” met with 16 congressional offices to discuss Musk’s lawsuit against the organization, and held “policy engagement” meetings with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.). The nonprofit also lobbied American policymakers toward the creation of an “independent digital regulator,” according to Racket News.
While the CCDH has criticized most social media companies for failing to curtail extremism, the organization has been particularly hostile toward X since Musk purchased the site, formerly known as Twitter, in October 2022. Musk, who pledged to end censorship on the platform after purchasing the site, sued the CCDH in July 2023 over a report from the group that claimed hate speech had spiked on X since Musk’s takeover.
The revelation of the Soros grant helps answer longstanding questions about the CCDH’s funding. In 2023, Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) subpoenaed the CCDH for a list of its donors as part of an investigation of the firm’s alleged collusion to censor social media platforms.
The CCDH does not voluntarily disclose its donors. But some organizations have revealed contributions to the nonprofit. The Skoll Fund, the private philanthropy of former eBay president Jeff Skoll, gave $415,000 to the CCDH in 2023, according to tax filings. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a donor-advised fund that manages charitable contributions on behalf of anonymous donors, contributed $403,175 to the CCDH in 2023. The CCDH received $2.1 million in revenue in 2023, the year of its most recent tax filing.
The grant revelation comes as the Trump administration sets its sights on the Soros operation and the CCDH. President Donald Trump called over the summer for Soros and his son Alex, the chairman of OSF, to be investigated for allegedly funding violent riots across the country. The Soroses have denied the allegation.
The administration is also considering revoking the visa of Ahmed over his group’s pro-censorship activities. The Sunday Telegraph reported earlier this month that Ahmed is at the “top of the list” of people considered for visa cancellations.
Ahmed cofounded the CCDH with Morgan McSweeney, the chief of staff of British prime minister Keir Starmer. McSweeney and other Starmer aides reportedly met with officials from the Kamala Harris campaign last summer to discuss election strategy, stoking outcry from the Trump campaign, which accused the Brits of election interference.
The CCDH has also targeted conservative news websites as part of its broad push for online censorship. In 2020, the CCDH petitioned Google to ban ads from the Federalist and Zero Hedge because of comments on articles related to the George Floyd protests the CCDH deemed to be racist.
The CCDH went to bat for Soros in another attack against the conservative Daily Wire, owned by Ben Shapiro. The group published a lengthy report in January 2023 asserting Google allowed Daily Wire to run ads for its website when users searched for terms like “George Soros evil” and “why does George Soros hate America.”
The CCDH has not launched any censorship campaigns targeting Drop Site News, the anti-Israel website known for platforming Hamas terrorists that received $250,000 from OSF to launch its Middle East desk.
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