Twitter, now branded X, has pressed charges against an organisation that claims to fight online hate but is, according to the platform’s US billionaire owner Elon Musk, undermining freedom of speech.
Since Musk took over Twitter last year, he has worked on restoring freedom of speech and removing the left-wing bias that was prevalent on the social media platform, as illustrated via investigative journalists’ findings and the Twitter Files.
Some major advertisers were disconcerted by possible changes at Twitter and pulled back from the microblogging site. This was in part due to pressure from organisations including the UK NGO Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). Now X is fighting back via the courts.
“Free expression is fundamental to a healthy functioning global society – and if it’s taken away, it’s almost impossible to get back. That’s why we will continue to stand up for people’s rights, including the over half a billion of you who turn to our platform continually. Free expression and platform safety are not at odds,” X states on its website.
“Despite our continued progress, the Center for Countering Digital Hate and its backers have been actively working to assert false and misleading claims about X and actively working to prevent public dialogue.”
The social media site said that while “99.99 per cent of posts are healthy”, it alleges that the CCDH and its backers are actively working to assert false and misleading claims, encouraging advertisers to pause investment in the platform.
Free expression is fundamental to a healthy functioning global society – and if it’s taken away, it’s almost impossible to get back. That’s why we will continue to stand up for people’s rights, including the over half a billion of you who turn to our platform continually.
Free…
— X (@X) August 1, 2023
“Through the CCDH’s scare campaign and its ongoing pressure on brands to prevent the public’s access to free expression, the CCDH is actively working to prevent public dialogue,” X claimed in its statement.
It also said the CCDH gained access to X’s data without authorisation and used that information out of context to make “unsubstantiated assertions” about it. Additionally, it said, the CCDH has recently “scraped” the X platform, which is “a violation of our terms of service”.
X accuses the CCDH of targeting people on all platforms who speak about issues the CCDH does not agree with and attempting to coerce the so-called “de-platforming” of users whose views do not conform to the CCDH’s ideological agenda.
The site further alleged that the group was targeting free-speech organisations by focusing on their revenue stream to remove free services for people and attempting to illegally gain unauthorised access to social media platform data and to misuse that data.
.@Imi_Ahmed is a British Labour Party operative who runs a pro-censorship dark money group called Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Twitter sent him a letter apprising him of the law on his bogus "research." https://t.co/tPNhccoMiM
Why is this guy in America? Who funds him? pic.twitter.com/qfZJ9d93s0
— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) July 31, 2023
The CCDH publishes reports regarding subjects including what it sees as vaccine misinformation, online racism and antisemitism.
According to a letter from Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Musk, the CCDH’s reports contain “inflammatory, outrageous and inaccurate statements” regarding X and its activities. He further asserted that those reports lack “scientific rigour”.
The letter also alleged the group was “supported by funding from X Corp’s commercial competitors, as well as government entities and their affiliates”.
In a reaction on X, the CCDH said Musk was throwing “a tantrum” and having his lawyers threaten legal action “because we’ve exposed hate and lies on Twitter”.
Via its lawyers, it said X Corp’s letter was “ridiculous” and the “frivolous claims” were an attempt to “intimidate thoughtful critics”.
The CCDH said it does not “accept any funding from tech companies, governments or their affiliates”.
Some say the organisation is a mouthpiece for the Left as it is a partner of Media Matters and the Center for American Progress, which are part of Democracy Alliance – “America’s most powerful Liberal donor club” – according to Politico.
The founder and CEO of the CCDH Imran Ahmed co-wrote a book with Angela Eagle, of the British Labour Party, on how to defeat Conservative ideas. It is described as work that advocates for Socialism and rejects Conservative views, especially those of free-market economists.
Ahmed is also curator of Narrative.Change.org, an organisation that wants to influence public debate and works together with Left and more radical organisations including Extinction Rebellion. Narrative posts describe people with differing views on climate as “enemies”.
X is apparently seeking to determine the identities of the CCDH’s backers and funders during the course of the trial and call them as defendants.
Musk’s firm believes these backers include other social media platforms as well as governments and groups with ties to so-called “legacy media”.
