In a bombshell report, a “Twitter Files” journalist revealed internal documents showing that the head of a leftist watchdog group obsessed with online censorship reportedly created “fake news” stories while he was a staffer for a Member of Parliament in the UK.
Racket News journalist Matt Taibbi peeled back some layers of hypocrisy marring Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) in a damning Nov. 14 thread. Taibbi called the CCDH “a prominent character in the #TwitterFiles, often seen kick-starting campaigns accusing various individuals and groups of bigotry on dubious evidence, often in close partnership with media.” However, the man who leads the organization that created the “Disinformation Dozen” censorship hit list, it seems, once conspired to create actual “fake news episodes” based on allegedly made-up political scandals in the United Kingdom.
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell has referred to the CCDH hacks as “digital brownshirts” for the way the organization has repeatedly pressured Big Tech platforms to censor speech on issues like climate change, elections and COVID-19 that don’t comport with leftist dogmatism. Taibbi specifically pointed to evidence of this influence showing Twitter’s reaction to the CCDH’s “Disinformation Dozen” report. “[A] Twitter official asked to have a series of tweets actioned within 30 minutes,” he wrote. “Posts included an anodyne @RobertKennedyJr statement about ‘transparency’ and ‘robust science,’ and a joke tweet about a Krispy Kreme promotion.”
Despite the CCDH’s obsession with fighting the leftist boogeyman of online “disinformation,” it doesn’t seem to mind that its CEO appears to be guilty of the very thing he accuses the right of doing. For example, as a Labor Party staffer, Ahmed reportedly coordinated with leftist publication The Guardian to falsely accuse UK Conservative Party figure Grant Shapps of editing the Wikipedia pages of his Tory rivals, according to Taibbi.
The Racket News journalist similarly noted what has been dubbed “brickgate” after which Jeremy Corbyn supporters “were accused of throwing a brick through the office window of centrist MP Angela Eagle, and of making homophobic statements toward her.” Taibbi added that “[e]mails show involvement of Ahmed and [the] Labour [Party] with this story as well.”
In his blistering report, Taibbi further unveiled the sordid character and leadership of the notorious anti-free speech CCDH which apparently has a ‘do as I say not as I do’ approach when it comes to censorship’: “Ahmed, whose CCDH says it's ‘straight out of the authoritarian playbook’ to ‘silence anyone who criticizes,’ asked Party officials if they'd ‘take action’ against his critics.”
The CCDH is also the subject of a U.S. Judiciary Committee investigation by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).
In a letter to Ahmed, Jordan said the group is directly responsible for the censorship of certain content online under the guise of protecting the world from so-called “misinformation.”
“Certain third parties, including organizations like yours, appear to have played a role in this censorship regime by advising the government and social media companies on so-called ‘misinformation’ and other types of content—sometimes with direct or indirect support or approval from the federal government,” Jordan wrote.
An attorney for the CCDH claimed that the group is “nonpartisan,” but conveniently ignored the CCDH’s targeted attack of right-leaning media outlets, including the MRC, which exposed it for being funded by radical leftists. Shortly after receiving funding from a ‘greening’ plan with alleged ties to Communist China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the CCDH in November 2021 issued a baffling report titled “The Toxic Ten.” The report targeted MRC, among other groups, accusing them of so-called “climate change denial.’ In response, Bozell called out the CCDH for “attacking conservative organizations for daring to have an honest debate on climate policy.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the CensorTrack contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
