In the digital age, the battle for free speech has extended to the virtual frontiers of social media and Big Tech platforms. It has also prompted more debate about the role of government in policing speech.

Since that pesky First Amendment prohibits the state from directly working to silence dissenting viewpoints, the authoritarian elements in American politics have sought other ways to stop the spread of ideas that contradict progressive ideology.

Several organizations have cropped up ostensibly to challenge the spread of misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms. One such organization is the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which has found itself in the crosshairs for allegedly using deceptive means to obtain its tax-exempt status.

Racket News published a report highlighting how the State Department has been providing funding to the organization, which supposedly exists to crack down on hate speech and fake news online. Documents revealed that the U.K.-based group essentially conned the IRS into granting tax-exempt status.

Explosive documents from the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) show that one of the world’s most powerful “anti-disinformation” groups, the Center for Countering Digital Hate Inc. (“CCDH Inc.”), provided incorrect information to the IRS in its application to receive tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status.

The status allows donors to CCDH to treat donations as a write-off and indicates that US authorities have determined the organization is involved in non-profit activities in the public interest. This has never been reported before, and the news should force CCDH to answer tough questions, especially since the group is in the business of accusing others of malfeasance.

Now target of litigation filed by X that accuses it of publishing “bogus” research and scaring advertisers off of its platform due to a zeal for censoring political speech with which it disagrees, the CCDH has become one of the most feared operators in the media space, pressuring companies like Google to demonetize or remove sites like ZeroHedge and The Federalist. In Britain, the leading figures in the CCDH are perhaps best known for a relentless campaign to tie former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to accusations of antisemitism, while worldwide the group gained renown during the pandemic for efforts to remove the so-called “Disinformation Dozen” from Internet platforms, a group that included Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

In reality, the CCDH was and is a pioneering effort in a new form of “non-governmental” pressure group that hides its ties to major-party politics as it pushes for the removal of “hate” speech, often the critics of mainstream politicians.

The CCDH is one of several groups receiving benefits from the federal government to target conservative and libertarian speech on Big Tech platforms. These organizations pretend to be nonpartisan but are clearly focused on squashing viewpoints that go against progressivism. Indeed, CCDH has even attacked Townhall.

Case in point: a U.K.- based group called the Center for Countering Digital Hate is using its stated platform of countering digital hate by hatefully attempting to censor conservative groups online for the crime of disagreeing with their position on climate policy.

The Center — which Influence Watch describes as “a London-based advocacy group that targets accused ‘hate groups’ and individuals for de-platforming campaigns to remove them from major social media outlets” — has set their sights on conservative publishers such as the Media Research Center, Daily Wire, TownHall, Breitbart, and others for their apostasy on environmental issues.

And, as is often the case, the group, writes MRC’s Joseph Vazquez, is tied to some rather nasty players with an interest in leftist “eco-extremism”. In this case, China.

The U.K.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate wants to censor organizations that disagree with it on climate policy. It released an absurd report attacking the Media Research Center and eight other conservative organizations in an attempt to shut them down online.

The leftist group behind the attack is led by a socialist who co-authored a book about “how to defeat” conservative ideas. The group promotes leftist eco-extremism, but behind all that are its deep ties to Communist China. The CCDH is funded by a leftist eco-group that financed a “greening” scheme for Communist China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The propaganda report headlined “THE TOXIC TEN: How ten fringe publishers fuel 69% of digital climate change denial” includes three recommendations to censor the organizations the group doesn’t agree with. These include: “Stop monetizing” their content; stop allowing them to buy ads and it even wants social media firms to “comprehensively label” what it calls “climate denial.”

Elon Musk recently got into it with the CCDH, vowing to pay the legal fees of people who have been disciplined by their place of employment for their online posts.

See: Elon Musk Announces ‘General Amnesty’ for Suspended Twitter Accounts and the Left Has Another Meltdown

The fact that the state is forcing Americans to pay organizations to silence their voices online based on political viewpoints is more than a little troubling. The government is using the money it takes from us to take another route to silence dissenting speech, and most are wholly unaware of it.

In this case, the CCDH had to use deceptive means to obtain government benefits. But other organizations enjoy millions of dollars in funding to conduct their censorious operations without having to use underhanded means. In fact, this likely won’t stop until enough people raise a fuss about it.