An anti-libertarian British NGO has been accused of conspiring with top Democrats in the US to bring down Elon Musk’s social media company X by using European Union-style speech regulation and targeting income from advertisements.
Internal documents leaked by a whistle-blower showed that The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a UK-based non-profit with connections to the ruling Labour Party, aimed to “kill Musk’s Twitter” while strengthening ties with the US Biden/Harris administration.
The progressive activists leant in on Bills that have regulated so-called “online hate and disinformation”, such as the EU recently introduced.
The UK group is accused of intentionally undermining US technology companies and trying to influence online debate ahead of the November presidential vote by pushing for “regulatory action”, targeting alleged “misinformation”.
Responding to the news of the scheme, Musk stated: “This is war”.
He added that the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) “is a criminal organisation,” and said its plans violated US criminal statutes against foreign interference in US elections.
“We are going after CCDH and their donors,” he said.
This is war https://t.co/tesncwEoXE
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2024
Records obtained by The DisInformation Chronicle and Racket have demonstrated the CCDH’s strong focus on us multibillionaire Musk.
Its self-declared annual priorities are to “Kill Musk’s Twitter”.
The group’s members have said they wanted to achieve this by focusing on advertising, triggering EU and UK regulatory action.
Internal documents have shown that the European Institute for Gender Equality was part of a private meeting in this regard, together with a host of more overtly political organisations.
Since the Digital Services Act (DSA) was enacted, the EU has battled with Musk over how X, is managed, demanding more speech control and actions against what the bloc labelled “hate and disinformation”.
Opponents of the law have always warned that they could be used as a tool for political censorship.
Asked about this case, a spokesperson from the European Commission told Brussels Signal: “We have no comment. The DSA applies in the EU.”
“Under the Digital Services Act, the Commission had opened proceedings against X in December 2023 and sent X preliminary findings on some of the suspected breaches in July,” the spokesperson said.
“The proceedings are ongoing.”
Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, says Breton has sent an “inaccurate” letter to his committee in an attempt to deny he was threatening to force Musk into censoring content.https://t.co/IqTGcSrSQm
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 10, 2024
In the US, CCDH could lose its special tax status if “a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation”, The DisInformation Chronicle wrote.
The outlet repeatedly stressed the close ties between the British Labour party and the US Democrat Harris/Walz presidential campaign.
Morgan McSweeney, the founder of CCDH, is a prominent figure in UK politics, credited for bringing Labour Party leader Keir Starmer to power.
Other media have described McSweeny as an “election mastermind” and someone who could bring in wealthy donors.
According to The DisInformation Chronicle, the British Government wants the Democrats to win and it has sent more than 100 staffers to the US to help in the election campaign.
Next to such direct political goals, the British Government further “relied heavily on CCDH’s aggressive efforts to de-platform rivals on the Left and Right by lobbing accusations of bigotry, misinformation, and other misdeeds”, the outlet claimed.
A US offshoot from the CCDH, Stop Funding Fake News, created boycotts against many media figures, often working with mainstream media outlets, making accusations of hate, racism or bigotry “followed by a pressure campaign against advertisers to shut off revenue to the target”, it said.
“Now, CCDH’s growing Washington office is working on similar plans to ‘kill’ the online presence of Democratic rivals like Musk by attacking X’s advertising revenue, a tactic first perfected in London against The Canary.”
The US branch is meeting with dozens of Congress members to push for “digital regulation” against so-called hate speech, in line with the European Digital Services Act (DSA).
The Trump campaign also reacted to the news and filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission.
Susie Wiles, a chief lieutenant to US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, recently told the daily New York Post there was “sufficient evidence to support a reason to believe finding that the British Labour Party made, and the Harris campaign accepted, illegal foreign national contributions” as well as “reason to believe that foreign nationals are exercising direction and control over elements of the Harris campaign”.
1) EXCLUSIVE DOCUMENTS: Working w/ @mtaibbi we report on @CCDHate documents showing the Labour Party's political front's objective is "Kill Musk's Twitter" thru "Advertising focus" meaning harass his advertisers.
See internal documents provided by a whistleblower. pic.twitter.com/HRHbeHimAF
— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) October 22, 2024
