Biden administration officials, including the co-chair of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board, communicated with a foreign NGO that pushes online censorship, newly released emails show.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is a United Kingdom-based nonprofit with U.S. tax-exempt status that has called to ban people, including independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from social media for espousing purportedly dangerous views.
CCDH head of policy Eva Hartshorn-Sanders communicated with DHS Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy and Plans Robert Silvers in March 2022 regarding her organization’s recent research and invited him to a CCDH event, according to emails obtained by the America First Legal Foundation.
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Silvers was receptive to learning more about CCDH’s research, responding to Hartshorn-Sanders’ email by saying that he was “copying our Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism, Lucian Sikorskyj, to follow up and pursue these opportunities,” according to documents obtained by America First Legal. Sikorskyj then began working to schedule a meeting between CCDH and DHS representatives.
CCDH’s research includes a report that claims Elon Musk’s X “is enabling dangerous content that could lead to real-life violence” as well as a report on violence promoted on involuntary celibate, or “incel,” forums.
CCDH works to hold social media companies “accountable and responsible for their business choices by highlighting their failures, educating the public, and advocating change from platforms and governments to protect our communities,” according to its website. It claims that “social media companies erode basic human rights and civil liberties by enabling the spread of online hate and disinformation.”
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DHS wasn’t the only arm of the Biden administration CCDH interacted with.
CCDH met directly with White House and State Department officials in September 2022, according to emails obtained by America First Legal. CCDH presented its research on incels, which claims the group poses a “clear and present danger” to the public, to Biden administration officials.
The state of Missouri is currently suing the Biden administration for allegedly coercing social media companies into censoring people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CCDH, America First Legal, DHS, the White House, and the State Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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