{"id":107630,"date":"2024-01-15T18:05:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T16:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=107630"},"modified":"2024-01-08T16:37:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T14:37:02","slug":"16-05-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=107630","title":{"rendered":"The New Push for Censorship Under the Guise of Combating Hate"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"center alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reunion68.com\/Biuletyn\/img\/tablet-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35%\"><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000080;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #000080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/news\/articles\/censorship-center-guise-combating-hate-covid-elon-musk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The New Push for Censorship Under the Guise of Combating Hate<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>PAUL D. THACKER<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\">\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>How an obscure British nonprofit came to influence White House COVID policy and lead attacks on Elon Musk.<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/e416b380458f41dca5f2c308320e3dd580308f07-3000x1687.jpg?w=1300&amp;q=70&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>TIMON SCHNEIDER\/ALAMY<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In March of 2021 a nonprofit group called the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) released a report about online misinformation. Founded in the U.K. by a former Labour Party political figure named Imran Ahmed, the CCDH was virtually unknown at the time in the U.S., but that was about to change. The report quickly reached the hands of executives at Twitter. \u201cCOVID-19 misinfo enforcement team is planning on taking action on a handful of accounts surfaced by the CCDH report,\u201d<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/disinformationchronicle.substack.com\/p\/twitter-files-who-are-the-people\">&nbsp;a Twitter official wrote<\/a>&nbsp;on March 31. One account they eventually took action against belonged to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was then running against Joe Biden for the Democratic Party\u2019s nomination for president.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A few months later, the same report was being cited by the Biden administration. At a press briefing in July 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki quoted from the CCDH report in a briefing where she accused Facebook of undermining federal vaccine policies. \u201cThere\u2019s about 12 people who are producing 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,\u201d Psaki claimed, citing the CCDH\u2019s work, while warning social media companies to shut down these \u201cmisinformation\u201d accounts. \u201cThey\u2019re killing people,\u201d President Biden told a reporter a short time later, leveling the charge of murder against Facebook for its alleged role in providing a platform for \u201cvaccine misinformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Facebook\u2019s Vice President Monika Bickert&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2021\/08\/taking-action-against-vaccine-misinformation-superspreaders\/\">later criticized CCDH\u2019s claims<\/a>&nbsp;for being free of evidence\u2014failing to define the term \u201canti-vaxx,\u201d for example\u2014and neglecting to explain how they came up with their numbers and conclusions. But it had little effect. By then the report had popularized the idea of a \u201cdisinformation dozen,\u201d a narrative that hardened as it was promoted by countless news outlets, fact checkers, and social media accounts devoted to round-the-clock attacks on \u201cdisinformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">More recently, the CCDH has popped up again, leading the battle against Twitter\u2019s new owner, Elon Musk, who has been cast as a champion of racists and antisemites. \u201cThe CCDH has been at the forefront of reporting on the hate proliferating on X\/Twitter since Musk completed his takeover in late October 2022,\u201d&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2023\/aug\/06\/when-we-held-up-a-mirror-to-elon-musks-twitterx-he-tried-to-sue-us-into-silence\">Ahmed wrote<\/a>&nbsp;last month in&nbsp;<em>The Observer<\/em>. In a number of publications over the past year, the group has repeatedly blamed Musk for allowing his platform to spread hate speech. Once again, these efforts have been uncritically amplified in the press and in a&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/trahan.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/letter_to_x_regarding_ccdh_and_researcher_access.pdf?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&amp;emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&amp;emailb=054528e7403871c79f668e49dd3c44b1ec00c7f611bf9388f76bb2324d6ca5f3&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=08.02.23%20Technology%20SL\">letter to Musk<\/a>&nbsp;from House Democrats that reiterates Ahmed\u2019s claims, and cites him and CCDH.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">What, then, do we know about the CCDH? In effect, it seems, the organization provides the White House with a powerful weapon to use against critics including RFK Jr. and Musk, while also pressuring platforms like Facebook and Twitter to enforce the administration\u2019s policies. While few journalists have bothered to investigate the opaque group, the available evidence paints a picture that is likely different from what many in the public would expect of a \u201cpublic interest\u201d nonprofit.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The scale of the CCDH\u2019s success must be emphasized for those unfamiliar with the crowded mob of D.C.-based nonprofits churning out reports that seldom get a passing glance from the nation\u2019s policymakers. For a tiny, unknown, nonprofit to gain so much attention in D.C.\u2019s crowded, competitive policy space is akin to a pudgy, amateur athlete catching the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, while setting a new world record in the marathon, all in one week.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">So who is the CCDH\u2019s founder and leader Imran Ahmed? Where does he get his money? Why did he decide to leave behind politics and start a nonprofit focused on misinformation? And perhaps most importantly, how did a relative unknown from London gain such enormous influence from the White House bully pulpit and within Democratic Party politics?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div class=\"Divider Divider--dotted-rule overflow-hidden\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Imran Ahmed is a&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/london-attack-labour-adviser-imran-ahmed-parliament-westminster-bridge-terror-describe-witness-a7645451.html\">political operative who spent several years<\/a>&nbsp;advising conservative members of the British Labour Party before jumping into nonprofit campaigning to run two interrelated dark money groups: Stop Funding Fake News and the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Shortly after appearing on Twitter in 2019, Stop Funding Fake News claimed some very sizable&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sfmisinfo\/status\/1157267260970622979?s=61&amp;t=NyqMySvB-OVoFVJDC1StrQ\">left-wing scalps in London<\/a>, mostly by lobbing vague accusations of fake news at political enemies. The group helped to run Jeremy Corbyn out of Labour Party leadership while tanking the lefty news site Canary, after starting a boycott of their advertisers, according to reports in British media outlets, sources who spoke with Tablet, and CCDH\u2019s own claims of success.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Although CCDH is still based in the U.K., Ahmed grew the group dramatically after he jumped across the Atlantic to incorporate CCDH as a&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/862006080\">D.C. nonprofit in 2021<\/a>. In the states, he forged ties in Hollywood:&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/cinema.usc.edu\/directories\/profile.cfm?id=63390&amp;first=&amp;last=&amp;title=&amp;did=59&amp;referer=%2Fbusinessentertainment%2Ffaculty%2Ecfm&amp;startpage=1&amp;startrow=1\">Talent agent Aleen Keshishian<\/a>, who teaches in the cinema program at the University of Southern California, now sits on his board. Just as he had done for the Labour Party, Ahmed used the CCDH to attack as \u201cconspiracy theorists\u201d and \u201canti-vaxxers\u201d various critics of the Biden arm of the Democratic Party.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">After Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was running against Biden for the Democratic nomination and appeared on Joe Rogan,&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-65934748\">Ahmed told the BBC<\/a>, \u201cHe\u2019s working really hard to keep people from knowing he\u2019s a hardcore anti-vaxxer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">When a federal judge chastised the Biden administration for possible censorship and restricted federal agency interactions with social media companies last July, Ahmed&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/05\/business\/media\/disinformation-researchers-judge-restrictions.html\">criticized the decision<\/a>&nbsp;in a&nbsp;<em>New York Times<\/em>&nbsp;report.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In a replay of his success in the U.K., Ahmed is now trying to drive away Elon Musk\u2019s advertisers on X, this time based on dubious claims that the social media site is a playground for racists. Speaking to the&nbsp;<em>Financial Times<\/em>, Ahmed said, \u201cWe don\u2019t talk in the language of technology, we talk in the language of morality\u2009&#8230;\u2009Advertisers are also human beings. Some of them just don\u2019t want to fund the primary vector of hate and disinformation in our society.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Ahmed\u2019s history is hard to track. The two groups he has run\u2014Stop Funding Fake News and CCDH\u2014seem to pop up out of nowhere, switch addresses, rarely disclose funders, omit naming all employees, and feature websites that change names or disappear from the internet. Jen Psaki\u2019s reference to the \u201cDisinformation Dozen\u201d report made the group famous in July 2021, yet the Internet Archive only has records beginning in 2022 for CCDH\u2019s website.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">One rumor that came up often in the dozen or so conversations I\u2019ve had, with people who have observed Ahmed for years, is that he works for British intelligence. Along with other questions emailed to Ahmed a couple weeks back, Tablet asked him to address the allegation he is connected to British intelligence, but he did not respond to repeated requests for comment. One of Ahmed\u2019s long-standing friends told me that Ahmed once mentioned that he had applied to either MI5 or MI6. Because the conversation took place so long ago, the friend couldn\u2019t remember which of the two British intelligence agencies it was, and they never later discussed if he had gotten in.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cThere\u2019s nothing surprising about this,\u201d said Mike Benz, a former State Department official who now runs&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/foundationforfreedomonline.com\/about\/\">the Foundation for Freedom Online<\/a>, a free-speech watchdog. \u201cThis is not the first rodeo of British and U.S. intelligence services creating a cutout for the purpose of influencing the online news economy, to rig public debate in favor of political speech that supports agency agendas.\u201d Ahmed\u2019s story is critical to understanding the new push for censorship under the guise of combating hate.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Although he comes from a poor family, Ahmed got a scholarship to attend Britain\u2019s prestigious Manchester Grammar school where he excelled, becoming editor of the student newspaper, and then graduating to attend medical school. People who know him describe him as brilliant, and after dropping out of medical school, he studied politics at the University of Cambridge, later becoming an adviser to several members of Parliament in the conservative wing of the Labour Party.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">While Ahmed eventually&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/investigations\/2020\/12\/01\/exclusive-labour-right-linked-to-campaign-to-shut-down-the-canary\/\">acknowledged in 2020<\/a>&nbsp;that he helped launch both Stop Funding Fake News and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, his involvement remained hidden for some years. Stop Funding Fake News started in February 2019 claiming to be a \u201csocial movement\u201d&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jewishnews.co.uk\/how-a-group-of-friends-are-fighting-fake-news-with-a-hand-from-rachel-riley\/\">too frightened<\/a>&nbsp;to name its own grassroots activists.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t want the levels of hate that far braver people than ourselves have been subjected to,\u201d some of their&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jewishnews.co.uk\/how-a-group-of-friends-are-fighting-fake-news-with-a-hand-from-rachel-riley\/\">anonymous members<\/a>&nbsp;told the British publication&nbsp;<em>Jewish News<\/em>&nbsp;in April 2019. While proclaiming that you fear for your own safety is a common trope among disinformation activists, members of Stop Funding Fake News showed no trepidation at a&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedrum.com\/news\/2019\/06\/25\/stop-funding-fake-news-aims-educate-agencies\">meeting with advertising and media agencies<\/a>&nbsp;to target political opponents.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">As Stop Funding Fake News activists<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedrum.com\/news\/2019\/06\/25\/stop-funding-fake-news-aims-educate-agencies\">&nbsp;told a news site<\/a>&nbsp;later that June, they convinced 40 brands\u2014including Adobe, Chelsea FC, Harry\u2019s, Experion, eBay, Moonpig, and Manchester United\u2014to block some news outlets from running their ads, essentially starving the sites of revenue in a tactic called \u201cdemonetizing.\u201d Stop Funding Fake News also announced that they were \u201ceducating\u201d ad agencies, although this seems a euphemism for targeting people or messages that you don\u2019t like. As reported by the British&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedrum.com\/news\/2019\/06\/25\/stop-funding-fake-news-aims-educate-agencies\">marketing industry news site The Drum<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<blockquote><p>It said it is now expanding its network to help \u2018persuade\u2019 ad agencies that it is \u2018bad for their clients to be associated with the lies and racism found on these sites, so it\u2019s in the interest of ad agencies to ensure they don\u2019t put them there.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">That same month, Stop Funding Fake News claimed a big scalp, taking out the Canary, a leftist news site aligned with the political priorities of then-Labour Party leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn. \u201cThe Canary has announced that, thanks to our campaign, its business model \u2018no longer works\u2019 &amp; they\u2019re downsizing,\u201d&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rachelrileyrr\/status\/1157275882010107904?s=61&amp;t=ZEMTun7brCANErozOSXVsA\">the group tweeted<\/a>&nbsp;in triumph. \u201cWe want to spend more time and resources on this campaign &amp; target new sites.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/b58ce4b082c85c10f7dee9c943a36497907a5a7e-1500x966.jpg?w=1200&amp;q=70&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), 2021 \/ PA IMAGES\/ALAMY<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Even as they remained \u201canonymous activists,\u201d Stop Funding Fake News clearly had considerable influence with British politicians. In October 2019, a Labour Party MP cited Stop Funding Fake News as the reason advertisements promoting free tours of the Houses of Parliament should be \u201cremoved immediately\u201d from Breitbart. \u201cThe Stop Funding Fake News Campaign have spotted that adverts for tours of Parliament have been hosted on Breitbart, the extremist, far-right, white supremacist fake news website set up by Steve Bannon,\u201d&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itv.com\/news\/2019-10-04\/parliament-funding-hate-with-adverts-on-right-wing-news-website-says-mp\">the MP said<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The diminished stature of the lefty Canary did not bode well for Jeremy Corbyn, and by the end of 2019, more conservative elements in the party had dismissed him from Labour leadership, as the establishment centrist&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/labour-leadership-sir-keir-starmer-wins-contest-to-succeed-jeremy-corbyn-11968442\">Keir Starmer wrestled back control<\/a>. But by late 2020, the game was up with Stop Funding Fake News, whose \u201canonymous activists\u201d were found to be Imran Ahmed and his Labour Party colleagues. Ahmed had by then&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/investigations\/2020\/12\/01\/exclusive-labour-right-linked-to-campaign-to-shut-down-the-canary\/\">admitted<\/a>&nbsp;he ran Stop Funding Fake News, and the Canary news site had figured out that SFFN shared a web server with the Center for Countering Digital Hate.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cSFFN would argue that, while websites that publish fake news have a right to free speech, they don\u2019t have a right to make money from it,\u201d the<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/investigations\/2020\/12\/01\/exclusive-labour-right-linked-to-campaign-to-shut-down-the-canary\/\">&nbsp;Canary reported in December 2020<\/a>. \u201cBut on what authority can this group decide what is and is not \u2018fake news\u2019?\u201d The Canary also pointed out that, like all British news sites, the British government regulated them, while Stop Funding Fake News operated in the shadows, free to attack, without any regulation or requirement to disclose members or funders.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cWe declare this a hate site,\u201d said former Canary editor Kerry-Anne Mendoza, describing the scorched-earth war against her news outlet. In retrospect, Mendoza said the entire campaign was designed to hammer the British left, plastering labels of \u201chate\u201d and \u201cfake news\u201d on them that crumbled once&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/pressgazette.co.uk\/publishers\/digital-journalism\/impress-no-further-investigation-skwawkbox-canary-antisemitism\/\">government regulators got around to examining<\/a>&nbsp;the allegations. \u201cThey accuse you of hate. Our regulator said the opposite, but that was irrelevant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Having throttled the Labour Party\u2019s left wing, Stop Funding Fake News became moribund, rarely tweeting from their social media account. Not that this mattered. Ahmed began running most of his operations from the Center for Countering Digital Hate and pivoted his focus to the U.S. where his list of \u201cdisinformation\u201d targets just happened to be critics of the Democratic Party establishment.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\"><strong style=\"color: #23282d; font-size: 1.6em;\">CCDH: Center for <\/strong><span style=\"color: #23282d; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: 600;\">\u2018<\/span><strong style=\"color: #23282d; font-size: 1.6em;\">Claims of<\/strong><span style=\"color: #23282d; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: 600;\">\u2019<\/span><strong style=\"color: #23282d; font-size: 1.6em;\">&nbsp;Digital Hate<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The Center for Countering Digital Hate&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk\/company\/11633127\/\">registered in late 2018<\/a>&nbsp;in London, first as Brixton Endeavours Limited, before changing its name to the Center for Countering Digital Hate. When first incorporated, the CCDH\u2019s only director was a&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/morgan-mcsweeney-04ab367\/?originalSubdomain=uk&amp;challengeId=AQGN53R6r3DNTQAAAYquUR0dMLad6vhy2BzJaHkzfPcaAobg6nmXAIxBdwaQ14nC5R963e2Y79yVTPdg8n3FzX8emQPBI4v9CA&amp;submissionId=51b9e411-5d5a-8617-094e-078856b9a027&amp;challengeSource=AgHNpDsNfa2wEQAAAYquUao79D713xb53B52ZyH7KO3mdcX5et3zzGjWmOchGGM&amp;challegeType=AgHB5SpsGYWUDQAAAYquUao_QzyuOPo6yJgi_tDnlpuJUC-Ya7BUD-g&amp;memberId=AgGqmqq3QQIjlwAAAYquUapCQQwO-e_IdyBrLLy7tdoPFSc&amp;recognizeDevice=AgFjy7Ug75-HCwAAAYquUapFQ76OciM6nTyCH8Squ8YLYfQbHVqb\">staffer for Keir Starmer<\/a>, a member of the conservative wing of the Labour Party. The group<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/investigations\/2020\/12\/01\/exclusive-labour-right-linked-to-campaign-to-shut-down-the-canary\/\">&nbsp;shared an address<\/a>&nbsp;with an organization that supported Starmer as well. Damian Collins, a member of the Tory Party,&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk\/company\/11633127\/officers\">later joined as an officer<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In late 2020, CCDH launched a campaign against British TV personality Katie Hopkins, a right-wing populist in the mold of the American writer Ann Coulter. After&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2020\/01\/30\/countdowns-rachel-riley-secret-talks-katie-hopkins-twitter-suspension-12155524\/\">Ahmed met with Twitter officials<\/a>, he succeeded in getting Hopkins briefly removed from the site by claiming she trafficked in hate, later describing her as an \u201c<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/katie-hopkins-twitter-suspended-deleted-review-a9309351.html\">identity-based hate actor<\/a>.\u201d Celebrating their success, CCDH told media outlets, \u201cWe believe social media can empower the world to be even better, but handing megaphones to hate actors is irresponsible and dangerous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">But campaigning against social media companies makes little sense when most of them are based in the United States, and Ahmed eventually moved to D.C., where he now lives, apparently with an American woman with&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zola.com\/registry\/elizabethandimran2022\">whom he became engaged<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">According to tax records, Ahmed began to run CCDH from D.C. in 2021, and&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/862006080\/202213199349306586\/full\">CCDH took in $1.47 million<\/a>&nbsp;in their very first year operating in the United States. Nonprofits are not required to disclose their donors, and CCDH did not respond to questions about their funders. However, I happened upon&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.schwabcharitable.org\/donor-advised-funds\">the Schwab Charitable Fund<\/a>, which allows people to set up private accounts to make anonymous donations. According to Schwab\u2019s 2021 tax forms, someone donated&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/311640316\/202230499349301028\/full\">$1.1 million to CCDH<\/a>, meaning someone secretly gave Ahmed\u2019s group almost 75% of the donations they raised in their first year.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Other parts of CCDH\u2019s tax records provide interesting insights. The group\u2019s chairman is Simon Clark, a former senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a D.C. think tank aligned with the corporate arm of the Democratic Party. CAP was founded by John Podesta, who&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-blog-updates\/2016\/10\/john-podesta-hillary-clinton-emails-wikileaks-000011\">chaired Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016<\/a>&nbsp;campaign against Donald Trump. And yes, CAP has close ties to the Biden administration. In other words, the CCDH may not be an objective civic group carrying out disinterested research. Indeed, one might conclude that CCDH functions as an arm of the corporate wing of the Democratic Party, to be deployed against the perceived enemies of corporate Democrats, whether they come from the left or the right.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"PullQuote PullQuote--center flex flex-col items-center pt1_5 pb3 mt1_75 mb_75 border-bottom-black\">\n<p class=\"PullQuote__text PullQuote--center__text text-center\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">One might conclude that CCDH functions as an arm of the corporate wing of the Democratic Party, to be deployed against the perceived enemies of corporate Democrats, whether they come from the left or the right.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ArticleView__content-switch bradford text-article-body-md font-300 mxauto\">\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Clark was also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council\u2019s Digital Forensics Lab. Matt Taibbi&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.racket.news\/p\/report-on-the-censorship-industrial-74b?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_campaign=post_embed&amp;utm_medium=web\">has reported<\/a>&nbsp;that various U.S. government agencies and defense contractors fund the Digital Forensics Lab which remains a central piece in the \u201ccensorship industrial complex.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">\u201cThe Atlantic Council, in the past several years, has had seven CIA directors on its board of directors or board of advisers,\u201d said Benz. \u201cAnd it\u2019s one of the premier architects of online censorship.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A source close to Ahmed told me he has bragged about meeting celebrities in Los Angeles and the actor Mark Ruffalo has tweeted in support of him. Ahmed\u2019s Hollywood ties may be explained by one of CCDH\u2019s legal directors, the agent and cinema professor Aleen Keshishian, who has managed Natalie Portman and&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/hitsdailydouble.com\/news&amp;id=282790\">Selena Gomez<\/a>. On top of Mark Ruffalo,&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/cinema.usc.edu\/directories\/profile.cfm?id=63390&amp;first=&amp;last=&amp;title=&amp;did=59&amp;referer=%2Fbusinessentertainment%2Ffaculty%2Ecfm&amp;startpage=1&amp;startrow=1\">Keshishian\u2019s bio states<\/a>&nbsp;that her other clients include Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. Ahmed\u2019s connections to Hollywood actors could account for some of the money he has raised from anonymous sources, as wealthy celebrities sometimes wish to keep their political donations hidden from fans.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">While hanging out with actors, Ahmed has also kept a close watch on Congress through a PR and lobbying firm he&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lotsixteen.com\/about-us\">hired called Lot Sixteen<\/a>. Very few activist groups have the financial means to hire private lobby shops\u2014even those with an established presence on Capitol Hill\u2014but during a few quarters of 2021 and 2022,&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/lda.senate.gov\/filings\/public\/filing\/search\/?registrant=&amp;registrant_country=&amp;registrant_ppb_country=&amp;client=center+for+countering+digital+hate&amp;client_state=&amp;client_country=&amp;client_ppb_country=&amp;lobbyist=&amp;lobbyist_covered_position=&amp;lobbyist_conviction_disclosure=&amp;lobbyist_conviction_date_range_from=&amp;lobbyist_conviction_date_range_to=&amp;report_period=&amp;report_year=&amp;report_dt_posted_from=&amp;report_dt_posted_to=&amp;report_amount_reported_min=&amp;report_amount_reported_max=&amp;report_filing_uuid=&amp;report_house_doc_id=&amp;report_issue_area_description=&amp;affiliated_organization=&amp;affiliated_organization_country=&amp;foreign_entity=&amp;foreign_entity_country=&amp;foreign_entity_ppb_country=&amp;foreign_entity_ownership_percentage_min=&amp;foreign_entity_ownership_percentage_max=&amp;search=search\">CCDH paid Lot Sixteen $50,000<\/a>&nbsp;to lobby congressional offices on COVID-19 misinformation and \u201cpreventing the spread of misinformation and hate speech online in social and mainstream media.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Even as he expanded operations into the United States, Ahmed maintained strong ties with British politicians, including Tory Party member Damian Collins, a leading proponent of censoring disinformation. Since 2016, Collins has led a series of inquiries into \u201cdisinformation\u201d and \u201cfake news\u201d on social media. Various reports he helped usher through the British government laid the foundation for a 2021 \u201c<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/inews.co.uk\/news\/technology\/online-safety-bill-facebook-instagram-twitter-damian-collins-1126199\">Online Safety Bill<\/a>\u201c intended to purge online \u201cdisinformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">When Collins held hearings on the bill\u2014which was passed into law just weeks ago\u2014the first person to give testimony in support of online bans&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/counterhate.com\/blog\/ccdh-gives-evidence-to-the-uk-parliaments-online-safety-bill-committee\/\">was Imran Ahmed<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Ahmed\u2019s successes in both the U.K. and the United States have also generated new legal concerns. Last month, Republican Congressman&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/chairman-jordan-expands-censorship-investigation-center-countering-digital#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20D.C.%20%E2%80%93%20House%20Judiciary%20Committee,and%20colluded%20with%20companies%20and\">Jim Jordan sent CCDH a letter<\/a>&nbsp;demanding they turn over a list of funders, as well as communications between social media companies and federal agencies accused of censoring Americans. When CCDH failed to provide answers to Jordan\u2019s satisfaction, the congressman upped the&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/media\/in-the-news\/jim-jordan-subpoenas-center-countering-digital-hate-org-behind-bidens\">ante with a subpoena<\/a>, alleging the group is working directly with Biden officials.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">And now Ahmed is also embroiled in a legal battle with Elon Musk. Last July, Musk\u2019s lawyer sent Ahmed a letter, warning him that a report CCDH put out&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23891593-twitter-letter-to-ccdh\">contained false and misleading claims<\/a>&nbsp;about Twitter\u2019s control of hate speech on the platform. Ahmed\u2019s&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/31\/technology\/twitter-x-center-for-countering-digital-hate.html\">research consisted of eight papers<\/a>, including one alleging that Twitter had taken no action against 99% of the 100 Twitter Blue accounts that CCDH accused of \u201ctweeting hate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Publicly, Ahmed ridiculed Musk\u2019s letter, saying it&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/economy\/musk-threatens-to-sue-researchers-documenting-the-rise-in-hateful-tweets\">was a declaration of war<\/a>. Twitter then filed a lawsuit against him and CCDH. Seizing on the lawsuit, Ahmed sent out an appeal for funding, and gave a series of interviews where he claimed Musk was bullying him.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Federal law prohibits unauthorized access into computer systems, and Twitter alleges that&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23919966-stamped-ccdh-amended-complaint\">CCDH illegally accessed the computers<\/a>&nbsp;of a company called Brandwatch, which works with Twitter. Companies subscribe to Brandwatch to gain access to Twitter\u2019s data, allowing them to understand how their company can advertise and promote themselves on the platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A recent CCDH report was based on questionable interpretations of Brandwatch data, which Twitter\u2019s lawyers allege they accessed illegally through a third-party that has a Brandwatch subscription:&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/europeanclimate.org\/\">the European Climate Foundation<\/a>. Twitter also accuses CCDH of illegally scraping their data, which violates Twitter\u2019s terms of service, and of interfering with their contract with Brandwatch. In addition to suing for financial damages, Twitter\u2019s lawyers also allege that Ahmed\u2019s organization violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a criminal statute.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Though Ahmed did not respond to questions about what he plans to do as legal costs for CCDH mount, multiple sources told Tablet that he will likely put on a brave face and try to spin this into a narrative with him as tiny David taking on multiple Goliaths: Elon Musk and Republican lawmakers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">It is too early to say how congressional investigations and lawsuits involving Ahmed will end, but whatever their final outcomes, they are likely to shed more light on how an ambitious Brit came to play such a prominent role in American politics. Ahmed\u2019s path to influence, it\u2019s clear, relied on a new idea of expertise that has more to do with politics than technical knowledge. The fact that fly-by-night nonprofits with political motives can now be elevated into scientific authorities, says less about these groups than it does about hardball politics played by corporate Democrats in the U.S. and new Labour officials in the U.K.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Ahmed\u2019s rise has been impressive, but ultimately he has been a servant to the power of political parties who deployed him and the CCDH to weaponize the charge of hate speech and misinformation against their enemies.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"AuthorBioBlock col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 w100 mt6 mxauto\">\n<div class=\"AuthorBioBlock__container graebenbach mt1_5 text-section-details-sm font-300 color-red\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em><strong>Paul D. Thacker<\/strong> is a reporter and former investigator for the United States Senate, where he led probes of corruption in science and medicine. Follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #808080;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thackerpd\">@thackerpd.<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\">\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"content-alignment\">\n<div id=\"watch-description\" class=\"yt-uix-button-panel\">\n<div id=\"watch-description-text\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><em>Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion&#8217;68,<\/em><em><br \/>\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion&#8217;68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.<br \/>\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:<br \/>\n<\/em><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"mailto:webmaster@reunion68.com\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width: 100%;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Push for Censorship Under the Guise of Combating Hate PAUL D. THACKER How an obscure British nonprofit came to influence White House COVID policy and lead attacks on Elon Musk. . TIMON SCHNEIDER\/ALAMY In March of 2021 a nonprofit group called the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) released a report about online [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107630"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107870,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107630\/revisions\/107870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}