The Center for Countering Digital Hate has been accused of FARA violations
America First Legal, a pro-Republican legal group, has accused the UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) of working with the US government to censor Americans and influence the current presidential election on behalf of Democrats. They claim the CCDH acted as an unregistered foreign agent.
The group has formally requested the US Department of Justice to investigate the CCDH as “agents of a foreign principal” under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
“Our investigation has uncovered shocking details about a foreign organization’s influence over the Biden-Harris Administration and numerous state governments,” AFL’s Gene Hamilton said in a statement, claiming that the CCDH’s goals “appear to be to stop Americans from exercising a fundamental right guaranteed against governmental interference by the First Amendment.”
According to the AFL, CCDH has “promoted unconstitutional censorship on social media platforms for years.” They specifically mentioned the CCDH’s CEO, Imran Ahmed, taking credit for the so-called “defund racism” campaign that pressured Google to remove advertising from outlets like the Federalist and ZeroHedge.
While the CCDH claims its mission is “to protect human rights and civil liberties online,” the AFL argues that their actions in practice amount to deplatforming, censorship, and suppression of dissent.
The CCDH was founded by Morgan McSweeney, chief of staff to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and former director of Labour Together, a think tank closely linked to Starmer’s Labour Party. Labour Together has been advising US Vice President Kamala Harris’ election campaign, and over 100 Labour Party activists are currently in the US. The two organizations share the same London address.
AFL accused CCDH of working with the White House and Democrats in 2021 to censor American citizens, including former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr, over alleged “disinformation” about Covid-19.
On March 24, 2021, the CCDH published a report labeling a group of influential lockdown critics as “the Disinformation Dozen,” calling for them to be de-platformed. Attorneys general of 12 US states, all Democrats, then sent a letter to the CEOs of Twitter (now X) and Facebook, citing the CCDH report and demanding censorship of these Americans. However, the AFL alleges that the CCDH was in contact with the Connecticut AG’s office before the report’s publication and “potentially coordinated” in drafting the letter.
AFL also noted that CCDH board chair Simon Clark is a former senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Lab and the Center for American Progress. AFL has filed a class action suit against the Atlantic Council for allegedly conspiring with the Biden-Harris administration to censor speech in the US.
Internal CCDH documents leaked earlier this month showed the group sought to “kill” Elon Musk’s X as its top annual priority, by focusing on advertising and triggering regulatory action in the UK and the EU.