Leaked documents expose a coordinated effort by UK lobbyists and US Democrats aimed at undermining Elon Musk’s Twitter. The collaboration sheds light on political strategies to curb Musk’s influence on the platform.
A UK-based nonprofit, linked to the ruling Labour Party, is reportedly attempting to undermine Elon Musk’s X platform with assistance from leading Democrats in Washington, as revealed by internal documents leaked by a whistleblower. In response, Musk has announced a “war” against The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
According to documents leaked to journalists Matt Taibbi and Paul Thacker and published on Tuesday, several monthly planners given out to staff this year by the CCDH highlight “Kill Musk’s Twitter [sic]” as their primary annual goal. In addition, CCDH employees have been instructed that they will concentrate on advertising efforts, initiate EU and UK regulatory actions, advance changes in the USA, and support STAR initiatives.
STAR, which stands for ‘Safety, Transparency, Accountability and Responsibility,’ is a proposed censorship bill in the US. It aims to establish an “independent digital regulator” with the authority to “impose consequences for harmful content.”
To garner backing for its objectives, the CCDH reached out to Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) in May and arranged a private conference in Washington the next month. Whistleblowers alleged that attendees included a senior White House adviser, a Democratic Party staff member from Representative Adam Schiff’s office (D-California), officials from the US State Department, and the vice president of Media Matters for America, an organization aligned with Democrat interests.
Earlier this year, Musk filed a lawsuit against Media Matters following their report which claimed that advertisements were appearing next to pro-Nazi content on X. Musk described the report as “manufactured” and argued in his legal action that its primary intent was to “drive advertisers away from the platform and destroy X Corp.”
In 2022, Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion and rebranded the platform as X, significantly reducing its censorship policies. Shortly after Musk’s acquisition, the White House unveiled the now-defunct ‘Disinformation Governance Board,’ which was mocked by conservatives and free speech advocates who likened it to an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth.” A week later, two dozen liberal NGOs including CCDH urged advertisers to boycott X.
READ ALSO: Musk Fires Back at Der Spiegel Over ‘Enemy No. 2’ Claim
Morgan McSweeney, who serves as chief of staff to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and is the former director of Labour Together—a think tank aligned with Starmer’s Labour Party—established the CCDH. Additionally, Labour Together has been providing guidance to US Vice President Kamala Harris’s election campaign, with over 100 activists from the UK’s Labour Party actively campaigning for Harris in the United States.
CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed, a former colleague of McSweeney at Labour Together, played a significant role in supporting Starmer’s ascent by spearheading advertiser boycotts against his left-wing rivals. One such rival was ‘The Canary,’ a left-leaning news platform that went out of business following accusations of anti-Semitism from both the CCDH and its initiative, ‘Stop Funding Fake News.’
In the United States, the CCDH has advocated for the White House to censor COVID-19 “disinformation,” unsuccessfully attempted to have similar content removed from Substack, and spearheaded several campaigns against Musk.
Internal documents reveal that Ahmed knows the CCDH’s activities may risk crossing into illegal lobbying for nonprofits. Prior to setting up meetings with lawmakers earlier this year, someone in the organization advised staff to “understand our limitations” as a nonprofit while still aiming to “inch towards our goal of regulatory action.”
In a series of posts on X on Tuesday, Musk labeled the CCDH as “a criminal organization” and announced that “this is war.”
