On Tuesday, a BBC reporter told Twitter CEO Elon Musk that “many organizations” are saying hate speech is increasing on Twitter – but, the only organization he cited was a group funded by left-wing billionaires known for trying to censor conservative speech.
In a live interview on Twitter Spaces, BBC's James Clayton couldn’t come up with a single example of “hateful content” he’d seen on Twitter, to back up his claim that such content was increasing, so he attributed his claim to “many organizations” who’ve said they’ve seen it:
Musk: “[Y]ou can’t a single sample of hateful content, not even one tweet. And, yet you claimed that hateful content was high: that’s a false. You just lied.”
Clayton: “No, what I claimed was there are many organizations that say that that kind of information is on the rise.”
Musk: “Give me one example. You literally can’t name one.”
Clayton: “The Strategic Dialogue Institute in the UK, they will say that.”
Musk: “Look, people will say all sorts of nonsense.”
Clayton was referring to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). According to its website, ISD's mission is to combat “hate, polarisation and disinformation.”
However, ISD is a liberal-funded organization known for advocating the censorship of conservative views, by labeling them hateful, disinformation or misinformantion, as an analysis of ISD by Influence Watch explains:
“The ISD has been accused of suppressing conservative views online by erroneously labeling mainstream views as misinformation.”
…
“The Institute for Strategic Dialogue has been criticized for encouraging the censorship of conservative views online, including comparisons between abortion and murder, skepticism of transgender activism, skepticism of weather-dependent energy, and opposition to critical race theory (CRT).”
….
“In 2021, National Public Radio reported that the ISD led a coordinated effort to identify and censor criticism of climate change narratives during the run-up to the United Nations‘ COP26 climate summit.”
“The Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s ‘partners’ include the left-leaning groups Anti-Defamation League, Demos, Fair Fight Action, and the Global Disinformation Index,” Influence Watch reports, listing some of ISD’s nonprofit funders:
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
- Left-wing billionaire George Soros’ The Open Society Foundations,
- Left-wing billionaire Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Network,
- The United States Institute for Peace, and
- The National Democratic Institute.
ISD “frequently classifies typical conservative discourse and journalism as hate and/or disinformation and has received funding from the U.S. government,” according to a Daily Caller investigative report, “State Department Funded Foreign Think Tank Working To Censor Americans”:
“For instance, ISD appears to consider the comparison of abortion to murder as misinformation, admonishing social media platforms for not enforcing their abortion misinformation policies against such claims.
“Moreover, in a 2022 report on ‘climate disinformation,’ ISD profiled a form of discourse it labeled ‘delayism,’ which accepts as a premise the existence of climate change but does not, in ISD’s view, advocate strong enough or urgent enough policy solutions. Criticism of particular policies designed to address climate change, such as the promotion of electric vehicles, were also included within the ‘disinformation’ report.”
“The State Department’s partnership with the ISD is problematic at best and unconstitutional at worst,” Internet Accountability Project President Mike David told the DCNF:
“Taxpayer dollars essentially funding the censorship of conservatives under the guise of ‘misinformation’ shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s followed the Biden administration’s assault on the marketplace of ideas.”
On Wednesday, ISD’s website homepage featured multiple stories criticizing Twitter, including:
- Mainstreaming climate scepticism: Analysing the reach of fringe websites on Twitter
- Understanding antisemitism on Twitter after Musk
- Antisemitism on Twitter Before and After Elon Musk’s Acquisition
Editor's Note: This piece was originally published on CNSNews.com
