Center for Countering Digital Hate: Difference between revisions
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CCDH is a member of the [[Stop Hate For Profit]] coalition.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Frazer|first=Jenni|title='The reason social media companies tolerate hate? Profit'|url=https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/meet-the-man-trying-to-drive-antisemitism-offline/|access-date=2020-12-10|website=jewishnews.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}</ref> |
CCDH is a member of the [[Stop Hate For Profit]] coalition.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Frazer|first=Jenni|title='The reason social media companies tolerate hate? Profit'|url=https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/meet-the-man-trying-to-drive-antisemitism-offline/|access-date=2020-12-10|website=jewishnews.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}</ref> |
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== History and structure == |
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{{Primary sources|section|date=September 2021}} |
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According to the official records, the non-profit was registered as a company in 2018 as Brixton Endeavours Limited. Its first director was Morgan James McSweeney.<ref name="companies">{{cite web|date=10 May 2020|title=Center For Countering Digital Hate Ltd|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/11633127/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410094741/https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/11633127/|archive-date=10 April 2020|work=Companies House}}</ref> The company changed its name to Center for Countering Digital Hate in August 2019.<ref name="companies" /> |
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=== Board of Directors === |
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Morgan James McSweeney, currently chief of staff to [[Keir Starmer]],<ref>{{cite web|date=9 Dec 2020|title=Morgan McSweeney|url=https://macemagazine.com/people/80-morgan-mcsweeney-chief-of-staff-to-keir-starmer/|work=Keir Starmer MP}}</ref>{{better source|This seems to be a blank page - plus is it reliable and isn't what he was doing in 2018 more relevant than what he is doing now?|date=December 2020}} was the first Director of the CCDH.<ref name="companies-people">{{cite web |url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/11633127/officers%7C|title=Center For Countering Digital Hate Ltd|work=Companies House|date=10 May 2020}}</ref> Upon the launch of the center in September 2019, he was joined by David Craig Roberts; Siobhan Marie McAndrew,<ref name="companies-people" /> a sociology lecturer at the [[University of Bristol]];<ref>{{cite web|date=10 May 2020|title=Dr Siobhan McAndrew|url=http://www.bristol.ac.uk/spais/people/person/siobhan-m-mcandrew/|work=University of Bristol}}</ref> and Kirsty Jean McNeill,<ref name="companies-people" /> an executive director at [[Save the Children]] and Board member of the [[Holocaust Educational Trust]] and the [[Coalition for Global Prosperity]].<ref>{{cite web|date=9 Dec 2020|title=Kirsty McNeill|url=https://twitter.com/kirstyjmcneill?lang=en|work=Save the Children}}</ref> McSweeney resigned in April 2020. |
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More recent directors include Simon Clark (Chair); Tom Brookes, Executive Director, Strategic Communications at the [[European Climate Foundation]];<ref>{{cite web|date=9 Dec 2020|title=Tom Brookes|url=http://europeanclimate.org/member/tom-brookes/|work=European Climate Foundation}}</ref> [[Damian Collins]]; [[Jonny Oates, Baron Oates|Jonny Oates]]; and Ayesha Saran.<ref name="companies-people" /> |
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=== CEO === |
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CCDH's current CEO, Imran Ahmed, was raised in [[Manchester]] and holds an MA in Social and Political Sciences from the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our People {{!}} Center for Countering Digital Hate|url=https://www.counterhate.com/our-people|access-date=2021-05-18|website=CCDH|language=en}}</ref> He is a trustee of [[Victim Support]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Board of Trustees|url=https://www.victimsupport.org.uk/more-us/about-us/people/board-trustees|publisher=Victim Support}}</ref> and sits on the steering committee for the [[Commission for Countering Extremism]]'s Pilot Task Force.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=26 May 2020|title=Pilot Task Force Steering Committee|url=https://extremismcommission.blog.gov.uk/2020/04/15/our-steering-committee/|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|work=Commission for Countering Extremism}}</ref> Before founding the CCDH in 2018, he served as a political advisor to the [[Shadow cabinet|shadow]] foreign secretary [[Hilary Benn]] MP in the UK Parliament and as political advisor to [[Alan Johnson|Alan Johnson MP]], leader of the [[Labour In for Britain|Labour Remain campaign]], in the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|2016 Brexit referendum]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=In the thick of it|url=https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/attend-an-event/event-listing/in-the-thick-of-it/|access-date=2021-05-13|website=www.parliament.uk|language=en}}</ref><ref name="auto4">{{Cite web|last=Frazer|first=Jenni|title='The reason social media companies tolerate hate? Profit'|url=https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/meet-the-man-trying-to-drive-antisemitism-offline/|access-date=2021-05-13|website=jewishnews.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}</ref> |
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Ahmed previously co-authored the book ''The New Serfdom: The Triumph of Conservative Ideas and How to Defeat Them'' with Labour MP [[Angela Eagle]].<ref name="bbp">{{cite web|date=10 May 2020|title=Imran Ahmed|url=https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/authors/imran-ahmed|work=Bite Back Publishing}}</ref> |
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==Activities== |
==Activities== |
Revision as of 15:59, 18 September 2021
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Company type | Private company limited by guarantee |
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Industry | other information service activities n.e.c. ![]() |
Founded | 2018[1] |
Founder | Imran Ahmed[2] |
Headquarters | |
Key people | Imran Ahmed (CEO) Tom Brookes Simon Clark (Chair) Damian Collins MP Kirsty McNeill Siobhan McAndrew Lord Jonathan Oates Ayesha Saran[3] |
Revenue | 400,000 Euro (2020) ![]() |
Website | www |
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is a non-profit organisation with offices in London and Washington, DC.[4] It campaigns for big tech firms to stop providing services to individuals who may promote hate and misinformation, including neo-Nazis and anti-vaccine advocates.
CCDH is a member of the Stop Hate For Profit coalition.[5]
Activities
The CCDH has targeted social media platforms for what it claims are insufficient efforts on their part to fight neo-Nazis[6] and anti-vaccine advocates.[7]
Campaigns
Campaign against Galloway and Hopkins
In January 2020, the CCDH campaigned against Katie Hopkins, a far-right political commentator, and George Galloway, a veteran left-wing politician and broadcaster.[8] TV presenter Rachel Riley and the CCDH directly lobbied "big tech" companies to have these individuals removed from major social media platforms. According to media reports, Riley and Imran Ahmed had a "secret meeting" with Twitter's London based staff in January 2020, demanding the removal of Hopkins and Galloway from their platform.[9]
CCDH's attempt to remove Galloway from Twitter failed, but Hopkins had her account suspended for a week in February 2020,[10] and removed permanently in July 2020.[11]
Campaign against David Icke
In April 2020 the CCDH launched a campaign against the British conspiracy theorist David Icke, who gained increased media attention during the COVID-19-associated lockdown in the United Kingdom.[12] The CCDH released a 25-page pamphlet attacking Icke entitled #DeplatformIcke[13] and campaigned to persuade social media platforms to remove his accounts, portraying him as a "hate actor".
In November 2020, Twitter removed Icke's account for violating the site's rules against spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]
Other campaigns
The CCDH notified Google that the Zero Hedge website had published what it called "racist articles" about the Black Lives Matter protests. As a result, in June 2020, Google found that reader comments on Zero Hedge breached its policies and banned Zero Hedge from its advertising platform.[15]
Publications
- Don't Feed the Trolls: How to Deal with Hate on Social Media (2019) – a 12-page pamphlet on how internet trolls operate, linked to a campagn of the same name involving Gary Lineker and other celebrities[16][17][18][19]
- The Anti-Vaxx Industry (2020) – criticises social media platforms for the growth of anti-vaccination ('anti-vaxx') activists[20]
- Will to Act (2020) – argues that the largest social media companies fail to enforce their own rules preventing anti-vaccine and COVID-19 conspiracy theory content[21][22][23]
- The Anti-Vaxx Playbook (2020) – claims to provide insight into anti-vaxx tactics, messages, and the use of social media[24]
- Hatebook (2020) - co-authored by the Coalition for a Safer Web, accuses Facebook and Instagram of hosting 61 accounts that were selling neo-Nazi merchandise to fund far-right extremism.[25][26]
- Failure to Act (2021) – jointly with Restless Development, tracks action taken by social media companies in response to anti-vaccine content[27]
- Malgorithm (2021) – a critical analysis of Instagram and Facebook’s user engagement and content recommendation algorithm[28][29][30][31]
- The Disinformation Dozen (2021) – identifies the top 12 spreaders of anti-vaccine disinformation on social media platforms as Joseph Mercola, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Ty and Charlene Bollinger, Sherri Tenpenny, Rizza Islam, Rashid Buttar, Erin Elizabeth, Sayer Ji, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, Ben Tapper and Kevin Jenkins[32] The report cites these individuals as responsible for 65% of all anti-vaccination content across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.[33][34]
- Disinformation Dozen: the Sequel (2021) – reports on the failures of social media giants to remove anti-vaccine content[35]
See also
References
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
companies
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Our People". Center for Countering Digital Hate. 26 May 2020.
- ^ "CENTER FOR COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE LTD". Officers (free information from Companies House). 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
- ^ "About Us". The Center for Countering Digital Hate. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- ^ Frazer, Jenni. "'The reason social media companies tolerate hate? Profit'". jewishnews.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
- ^ "Facebook Still Ignoring Warnings of Neo-Nazi Fundraising Network on Its Platforms, New Report Claims". Algemeiner.com. 2020-11-23. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
- ^ Burki, Talha (2020-10-01). "The online anti-vaccine movement in the age of COVID-19". The Lancet Digital Health. 2 (10): e504–e505. doi:10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30227-2. ISSN 2589-7500. PMC 7508526. PMID 32984795.
- ^ "George Galloway sacked by talkRADIO over allegedly anti-Semitic tweet". BBC. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ^ "Countdown's Rachel Riley in secret talks over Katie Hopkins' Twitter suspension". Metro. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- ^ "Katie Hopkins' Twitter Reinstated Following Week-Long Absence". Huffington Post. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- ^ Slawson, Nicola; Waterson, Jim (19 June 2020). "Katie Hopkins permanently removed from Twitter". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ "Icke antisemitic conspiracies viewed over 30 million times, new research shows". The Jewish Chronicle. 10 May 2020.
- ^ "#DeplatformIcke: How Big Tech powers and profits from David Icke's lies and hate, and why it must stop" (PDF). Center for Countering Digital Hate. 10 May 2020.
- ^ "Twitter bans David Icke over Covid misinformation". BBC News. 2020-11-04. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ Fraser, Adele-Momoko (17 June 2020). "Google bans website ZeroHedge from its ad platform over comments on protest articles". NBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
- ^ "Don't feed the Troll: Sadiq Khan, Gary Lineker and Rachel Riley pledged not to publicise abuse they receive online". The Independent. 10 May 2020.
- ^ "How to Deal With Hate on Social Media: Don't Feed the Trolls". NHS Horizons. 10 May 2020.
- ^ "Gary Lineker and Rachel Riley are silencing trolls once and for all - by doing this one simple thing". Birmingham Mail. 10 May 2020.
- ^ "Stop engaging with online trolls altogether, public figures say". The Guardian. 10 May 2020.
- ^ Ahmed, Imran (2020-07-07). "It's time the tech giants cracked down on the anti-vaxx infodemic". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
- ^ "Facebook to 'take down' coronavirus misinformation". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- ^ "Social media companies 'failing to act on 90% of Covid-19 misinformation'". ITV News. 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- ^ "Social media firms fail to act on Covid-19 fake news". BBC News. 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- ^ Brown, Kristen V. "A Look Inside the Anti-Vaxx Playbook". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Facebook condemned for hosting neo-Nazi network with UK links". the Guardian. 2020-11-22. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
- ^ ""Gas chambers" Facebook group one of several that sold neo-Nazi merchandise to fund far-right groups". Newsweek. 2020-11-23. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
- ^ Reporter, Metro Science (2020-09-03). "Social media 'failed to remove 95% of anti-vaccine misinformation'". Metro. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- ^ Campbell, Hebe (2021-04-27). "US Congress hearing probes misinformation via social media algorithms". euronews. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
- ^ Guenot, Marianne. "Instagram recommendation algorithms are pushing anti-vaxx and QAnon posts, NGO report says". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
- ^ Hern, Alex (2021-03-09). "Instagram led users to Covid misinformation amid pandemic – report". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Harpin, Lee (2021-03-09). "Instagram's algorithm 'recommending' antisemitic imagery and QAnon conspiracies". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Jarry, Jonathan (31 March 2021). "A Dozen Misguided Influencers Spread Most of the Anti-Vaccination Content on Social Media". Office for Science and Society. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Covid vaccine: Social media urged to remove 'disinfo dozen'". BBC News. 2021-03-26. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
- ^ Srikanth, Anagha (2021-03-24). "12 prominent people opposed to vaccines are responsible for two-thirds of anti-vaccine content online: report". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
- ^ Papenfuss, Mary (2021-05-14). "12 Influencers Are Behind Most Anti-Vax Hoaxes On Social Media, Surprise Research Reveals". HuffPost. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
Further reading
- "The changing advice on tackling hate speech in a world of online anonymity". ITV News. 16 September 2019.