Tesla CEO Elon Musk (File) America First Legal (AFL) unveiled new evidence Thursday suggesting that the UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hat
America First Legal (AFL) unveiled new evidence Thursday suggesting that the UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and its leadership, including CEO Imran Ahmed, have coordinated efforts to censor American citizens online and potentially interfere with U.S. elections.
AFL has formally requested that the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate CCDH under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to determine if it operates as an “agent of a foreign principal.
CCDH, founded and staffed primarily in the U.K., has worked to promote censorship on social media, allegedly working closely with U.S. government agencies and other influential organizations. AFL’s investigation reveals that CCDH’s U.S. arm shares close connections with British political groups and operates without clear separation from its U.K. counterpart.
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CCDH’s leadership includes Imran Ahmed, who leads both CCDH U.K. and CCDH U.S. and has been active in initiatives like the “defund racism” campaign, which pressured Google to pull ads from conservative outlets. Other leaders, including Simon Clark and Eva Hartshorn-Sanders, have held roles in prominent policy organizations and reportedly collaborated with U.S. agencies to support censorship initiatives.
In 2021, CCDH released the “Disinformation Dozen” report targeting influential figures critical of COVID-19 policies, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urging social media platforms to deplatform them. AFL’s investigation uncovered that CCDH provided a pre-publication version of the report to Connecticut’s Attorney General, who used it as a basis for coordinated action against these individuals before the report was even published.
AFL has filed numerous FOIA requests, uncovering evidence that CCDH’s influence extended into U.S. government policy discussions. Leaked documents reportedly reveal CCDH’s lobbying efforts, including meetings with Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office and objectives like “Kill Musk’s Twitter.”
“Our investigation has uncovered shocking details about a foreign organization’s influence over the Biden-Harris Administration and numerous state governments. But not just any influence—their aim and stated goals appear to be to stop Americans from exercising a fundamental right guaranteed against governmental interference by the First Amendment. And for nearly four years, the Biden-Harris DOJ appears to have looked the other way. The Biden-Harris DOJ is now on notice. The time to investigate is now,” said Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Executive Director.
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