[JustTheNews] Perhaps lesser known than media watchdogs NewsGuard and Media Matters for America, CCDH is still powerful in helping decide what information reaches American news media consumers.
This story is the fourth in a four-part series this month by Just the News on watchdogs who promote censorship.
On Nov. 4, one day prior to the 2024 presidential election, a headline on the increasingly left-leaning news aggregating site The Drudge Report screamed: “Misleading claims have been viewed more than 2 billion times on X.”
The headline linked to a CNN story based on an analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the British-American nonprofit whose stated purpose is to stop the spread of disinformation and hate speech and that has targeted liberals but appears more intent on the so-called "de-platforming" of conservative-leaning thought leaders and news outlets.
The story is based on analysis from the group's researchers of 87 posts on X by the social media site's owner, Elon Musk, the libertarian-minded billionaire entrepreneur who backed Republican Donald Trump in his Nov. 5 presidential victory. The researchers found the election-related posts to be “false” or “misleading."
In this final installment of a four-part series on the so-called Censorship Industrial Complex, Just the News takes a look at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, perhaps lesser known than media watchdogs NewsGuard and Media Matters for America, but nevertheless powerful in helping decide what information reaches American news-media consumers.
MAGIC WORDS
Though the Drudge website linked to a CNN story, the study was also picked up by a dozen other outlets, including Reuters, NBC News and The Washington Post, all of which reported the CCDH findings as though they were unimpeachable. Such conclusions are frequently reached when the legacy media reports anything with the magic words “study” or “research” attached – as long as the results fit the progressive narrative.
But some of Musk’s posts highlighted by the CCDH as false contained verified statistics, and many were his opinion or a prediction, so only time will tell whether at least some are either factual or misleading.
The CCDH typically uses reliably left-wing “fact-checkers” and “experts” to tag claims it dislikes as falsehoods (and to defend open immigration, it uses the libertarian Cato Institute).
“If the Democratic Party big government machine wins this election, they will ban voter ID nationwide, not just in California,” is one example of a highlighted post by Musk. To prove Musk wrong, the CCDH fact-check says that 36 states require voters to show some form of ID and the 14 others use “other methods to verify the identity of voters.”
To boost its assertion, the CCDH cites DW.com, a left-of-center website operated by an international broadcaster in Germany that acknowledges that it does not dispute a story by The New York Post stating “welfare offices in 49 states are handing out voter registration applications to illegal aliens,” but adds that there’s “no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting fraud.”
… NOT ABOUT FREE SPEECH
Then The Federalist published a response to the controversy headlined: "Corporate Media Wants To Silence The Federalist Because It Can't Compete.”
“In an apparent collaboration with a leftist activist group from the United Kingdom, the eerily named “Verification Unit” of NBC News lobbied Google to demonetize the website you’re reading right now,” The Federalist wrote. “A producer with the NBC News Verification Unit, bragged about getting The Federalist demonetized by having Google remove its ability to make money off its ad platform. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the exact sort of ‘fake news’ (NBC News) and the CCDH claim to fight.”
“Despite the clever naming of activist groups like the CCDH, this isn’t about ‘hate’ speech, which these days is anything that goes against the current claims of radical leftist neo-Marxists,” The Federalist continued. "It also isn’t about free speech. This is the left’s latest attempt to rig a battle of ideas that, despite numerous advantages, it’s still losing. It’s about who can say what, in what way, about whom, and which groups The Anointed have declared to be strictly ‘off-limits’.”
Since the dustup with The Federalist, and with X, the CCDH has actually grown in stature by expanding into the U.S. as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, allowing it to raise funds and operate in the U.S.
Last year, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Ahmed asking him how and to what extent the CCDH is involved in the Executive Branch’s effort to coerce and collude with companies to censor speech. Jordan asked Ahmed to supply documents and communications regarding interactions with the U.S. government and social-media companies, and to disclose its funding.
In a press release about Jordan’s ongoing investigation is a link to an article from Breitbart News stating the CCDH is partially funded by “a shadowy Swiss investment group that is funding communist China’s bid for global dominance” called Oak Foundation.
“The foundation funds a wide variety of left-wing causes, including efforts opposing the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, voter registration and mobilization efforts for Democrat-leaning demographic groups, and a broad spread of left-wing environmental groups,” Breitbart News reported.
The Oak Foundation did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News, who has not been able to verify the underlying allegations.
The CCDH responded to Jordan’s request with a letter from an attorney who noted that Ahmed wasn’t one-sided, because he was invited by Trump’s special envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.
The attorney acknowledged that the CCDH “seeks to communicate robustly and candidly with social media companies,” and highlighted a meeting between Ahmed and Microsoft CEO Linda Yaccarino. The letter states that the CCDH is funded entirely by private donors and has never received money from the U.S. government.
Astounding fact: Since the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Pentagon has spent over $48 billion on ... Operation Enduring Sentinel "to prevent the re-emergence of external threats from Afghanistan and counteract terrorist recruitment efforts," according to IG report to Congress.… pic.twitter.com/wDBAhDGupT
"The U.S. Government remains the largest humanitarian donor to the Afghanistan Response, providing more than $697 million in humanitarian assistance in FY 2024, including nearly $535 million in USAID BHA assistance and more than $162 million in State PRM support."
#5
I watched a Shawn Ryan episode with Sarah Adams a while back that included a breakdown of how US money is being distributed in Afghanistan. It takes a lot to disturb me. It did.
Link
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/30/2024 10:50 Comments ||
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Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/30/2024 10:50 Comments ||
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#7
^Opium?
Could be. But with so much fentanyl on the market the profits might be drastically reduced. I wondered at the time of Biden's pull out if the appearance of fentanyl had anything to do with it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/30/2024 12:01 Comments ||
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#8
^Fentanyl goes to USA. Opium (products) go to Russia.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer just admitted that Western leaders have been running an “open borders experiment”…
"This happened by design, not accident. Immigration policies were reformed deliberately. It has been a failure. They pretended it wasn’t happening.” pic.twitter.com/vHVibQnG38
Posted by: 3dc ||
11/30/2024 00:00 ||
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[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
For some reason I'm reminded of the scene in old (70es) Soviet movie. A gang leader tells to a group: "we shall make an excrement [he meant experiment] with you'.
#2
And we all know that Russians don't take a dump without a plan...
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/30/2024 5:41 Comments ||
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#3
Check out other UK news sites. Starmer was blaming the Tories and Brexit for all this:
“Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalise immigration. Brexit was used for that purpose – to turn Britain into a one-nation experiment in open borders.”
#3
The kid’s photobomb was classic. Trump needs to sweep the leg on this one. We can’t have the Canadian border controlled by an enemy like Trudeau. The Mexican president is no better, but Justin is teetering. Eliminate him. Canada will join the sweeping changes and we can face South without looking over our shoulder for the dagger.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/30/2024 11:13 Comments ||
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[JustTheNews] All-electric automaker Rivian Automotive has announced that it received a “conditional commitment” for a $6.6B loan from Department of Energy.
If finalized, the loan would be used to aid in the construction of a $5B Rivian plant just outside Atlanta, Georgia.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle were quick to react to the announcement Monday of additional funding going to what they’ve labeled a “failing company.”
“Biden is forking over $6.6B to EV-maker Rivian to build a Georgia plant they’ve already halted,” said Vivek Ramaswamy, who will be leading President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, along with Elon Musk, CEO of X and Tesla Motors. “One ‘justification’ is the 7,500 jobs it creates, but that implies a cost of $880k/job which is insane. This smells more like a political shot across the bow at Elon Musk and Tesla.”
With its first plant currently operating in Illinois, the California-based vehicle startup company officially closed on the 1,800-acre lot in Georgia in Nov. 2023.[JustTheNews] All-electric automaker Rivian Automotive has announced that it received a “conditional commitment” for a $6.6B loan from Department of Energy.
If finalized, the loan would be used to aid in the construction of a $5B Rivian plant just outside Atlanta, Georgia.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle were quick to react to the announcement Monday of additional funding going to what they’ve labeled a “failing company.”
“Biden is forking over $6.6B to EV-maker Rivian to build a Georgia plant they’ve already halted,” said Vivek Ramaswamy, who will be leading President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, along with Elon Musk, CEO of X and Tesla Motors. “One ‘justification’ is the 7,500 jobs it creates, but that implies a cost of $880k/job which is insane. This smells more like a political shot across the bow at Elon Musk and Tesla.”
With its first plant currently operating in Illinois, the California-based vehicle startup company officially closed on the 1,800-acre lot in Georgia in Nov. 2023.
Acquired to be the location for a second “next-generation manufacturing facility” producing upwards of 400,000 vehicles a year, the company halted construction plans earlier this year after financial troubles. Over the course of the year, shares in Rivian have dropped about 50%, while the Michigan-based Center for Economic Accountability labeled the project the "Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year" for 2022.
Georgia also promised over a billion dollars in incentives for the company, The Center Square previously reported.
Rivian said the loan will accelerate the company's "growth and leadership of electric vehicle design" as well as benefitting the electric vehicle industry throughout the United States.
“This loan will help create thousands of new American jobs and further strengthen U.S. leadership in EV manufacturing and technology,” said Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe in a statement. “This loan would enable Rivian to more aggressively scale our U.S. manufacturing footprint.”
The funding will come from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program, which has also historically loaned both General Motors and Tesla money.
Jo Jorgensen, the 2020 Libertarian candidate for president, called out the loan.
“Electric vehicle startup Rivian Automotive has snagged up to $6.6 billion in funding from the U.S. government to grow its production capability,” she said. “Related news-Rivian is ranked among the worst brands for reliability in 2024. Per usual, our federal government is leading the race to the bottom!”
Earlier this month, the company’s quarter three financials signaled even more financial troubles for Rivian.
In the third quarter, it had a negative gross profit of $392 million, producing only 13,157 vehicles and "delivering" only 10,018. That means the company had a loss-per-vehicle of nearly $40,000.
"They should at least be required to get to positive gross margin with existing models before being given billions for future models," Musk said of the loan announcement.
#1
The Biden flunkies are pushing EVs while the Japanese plants are switching to hydrogen cells. This “loan” is just a golden parachute to some Biden backers. It won’t be the last of the close out sale.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/30/2024 13:40 Comments ||
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#2
And how many green companies went bust under Obama?
#3
Business decision are often maddening but are part of the freedom that I served to protect. Having the government pressure businesses to debank and censor is not freedom. It’s corruption. Justin Trudeau started this debanking in the West because he and Freeland are punks. This will be addressed by Trump but it needs to be fixed by Congress immediately.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/30/2024 10:56 Comments ||
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#4
If federally regulated banks were uncomfortable with debanking their customers then they should come clean to their customers and provide the transparency to who they were asked to debank, invite those customers back and announce a policy to not to even entertain such requests.
[LI] Tech Billionaire Tells Joe Rogan the Govt. Plan ’to Control AI’ is Why He Left WH Meeting, Endorsed Trump
"They [Biden officials] said don’t even start startups — there’s just no way that they can succeed — there’s no way that we’re going to permit that to happen."
Perhaps one of the most welcome surprises of the 2024 election cycle was the large number of Democrats and/or progressives who threw their support behind President-elect Donald Trump. The cumulative damage to the U.S. after four years of progressive rule, the deceitful way it had been implemented, and the speed with which it occurred, left even some lifelong Democrats disaffected. Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen was among this group.
During a Tuesday interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Andreessen described the moment he decided to leave the Democratic Party. In the spring, he had participated in a series of White House meetings about the future of AI. Over the course of their discussions, Biden officials fleshed out "their plan to control AI through government regulatory capture." Horrified by the administration’s intentions, Andreesen walked out and endorsed Trump.
What had left the tech billionaire so spooked? Andreessen explained:
#4
Destroying the Uniparty plans has become like a game of Marco Polo in a pool. The difference is that the response isn’t Polo. Whenever Trump’s team gets close to something that is important to the leftists, the entire media erupts in horror.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/30/2024 11:08 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[SDUT] 
