“Disinformation Dozen” smear campaign authors under investigation by Congress
By isabelle // 2024-11-19
Copy
 
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a UK-US intelligence operation masquerading as an anti-hate group as part of an effort to censor conservative speech, is in the hot seat as a Congressional investigation intensifies into their collusion with the Biden administration and social media platforms. Earlier this month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed the group as part of a long-running investigation into their censorship campaigns. They have been ordered to provide all of the documents and communications they have “between or among CCDH, the Executive Branch, or third parties, including social media companies, relating to the identification of groups, accounts, channels, or posts for moderation, deletion, suppression, restriction, or reduced circulation.” They have until November 21 to comply. One area they are particularly concerned about involves a campaign called “Kill Musk’s Twitter” in which they sought to destroy Elon Musk’s X and tried to drive its advertisers away after it became clear Musk would not be willing to censor people on behalf of the government the way its previous owners did. This effort was confirmed by leaked documents that were released last month by investigative journalists Matt Taibbi and Paul D. Thacker. These documents also exposed “black ops” the group planned against Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who founded Children’s Health Defense. Children’s Health Defense is one of 12 names listed on CCDH’s “The Disinformation Dozen,” a smear campaign that identified websites and individuals who dared to express concerns about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and other issues that went against the Biden administration’s narratives. Thacker believes that Jordan should expand the scope of his investigation to include the “black ops” carried out by CCDH. “I don’t want to speculate on what CCDH was doing with ‘black ops’ against Kennedy. I think that should be explored by a congressional committee, with CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed put under oath,” he said. Another target of The Disinformation Dozen, GreenMedInfo’s Sayer Ji, said that the CCDH was carrying out “the largest coordinated foreign influence operation targeting American speech since 1776.” “The leaked documents confirm what we experienced firsthand: CCDH wasn’t just targeting 12 individuals — we were test cases for deploying military-grade psychological operations against civilians at scale,” he said. “Just as the British Crown once used seditious libel laws to silence colonial dissent, CCDH’s operation expanded to silence hundreds of millions globally, from doctors sharing clinical observations to parents discussing vaccine injuries.”

CCDH also accused of election interference

Last month, America First Legal shared new evidence and filed a formal complaint with the Department of Justice over the CCDH’s foreign influence campaign against free speech, saying that they could be “agents of a foreign principal” that therefore must comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Thacker also believes Congress should look into whether CCDH violated FARA. “We need to also look at how much foreign money they took in and whether we as a nation are comfortable with foreign influence trying to alter the law and political discussions,” he said. The Trump campaign has also said that it intends to investigate the CCDH. In fact, it is reportedly something that “will be at the top of the list.” His campaign filed a complaint against Kamala Harris’s failed campaign with the Federal Election Committee on the grounds that it made and accepted “illegal foreign national contributions” from the UK Labour Party after evidence showed the Biden administration was working with the UK’s Foreign Office. Sources for this article include: ChildrensHealthDefense.org AFLegal.org
Copy