Any group with the word ‘hate’ in their title are normally everything they claim to be against. So when Katie Hopkins had her Twitter account suspended on Wednesday 29th January 2020, an account with over 1 million followers, we decided to take a look at the ‘Center for Countering Digital Hate’.

But first, the background.

Katie Hopkins is known for her provocative statements, and uncompromising views on issues that dominate the news cycle. She is never PC, or worried about sensitivities. This has made her a hated figure among the far left, and as we know, the closer to the target you are, the more flak you receive. We looked for any evidence of any incitement to hate & violence, the charge levelled against her by Twitter as justification, but could find nothing.

However, as the day of the suspension progressed, the reality of what happened started to reveal itself. A recently formed organisation called Center for Countering Digital Hate (@CCDHate on Twitter) claimed responsibility for the censorship, stating that along with Rachel Riley, they had met Twitter UK and presented a case for Hopkins to be banned. CCDH have been endorsed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and pundit Gary Lineker. This meeting took place without Katie in attendance to provide context to whatever was raised, or to defend herself and the tweets in question. The group had also not seen fit to engage with Katie prior to the meeting. Action was swift (the day following the meeting) and the gloating from the left wing press followed almost instantly (The Independent managed to publish an article within moments of the ban, suggesting they may have been briefed). Riley also revelled in what she saw as a victory, though a read through her twitter feed reveals she has a minority view that this is a good thing. Riley and CCDH also called for George Galloway to be banned, citing anti-Semitism, but Twitter failed to act on this.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz has a larger holding in Twitter than CEO Jack Dorsey.

The alarm expressed by many was that yet again, Twitter had met with left wing activists and acted on their bidding. The political discrimination against the right has been proven by Project Veritas and others, with many accounts falling victim to mass reporting by trolls and activists (itself a violation of Twitter ToS). At time of writing, the account Zero Hedge with over 600,000 followers has also been suspended. Many have predicted that 2020 would see a Conservative and pro Trump crack down, and it is clear that political interference isn’t a problem for Twitter. UK political party “For Britain” had both the party account and the leader banned from the platform. A perfectly legitimate political party registered with the Electoral Commission, banned for (justifiably) criticising the police over grooming gangs. The police have since apologised for their handling of grooming gang cases, but this hasn’t brought back the banned accounts. At time of writing, the Iranian regime, responsible for murdering 1500 citizens also can happily tweet away. Far left Account Rachel Swindon was re-instated by a Twitter exec after mass complaints from left wing activists following a ban. The exec tweeted ‘he would sort it’ prior to the account coming back online. Swindon is currently accused of antisemitism and many Jewish activists have called for her account to again be banned.

Other accounts still live include Nish Kumar who stated “I want you white people in the audience to do something for me….. I want you to go home and kill your racist Brexit-voting parents“.

If Katie Hopkins had said the above about muslims she would likely be in prison, not just banned from social media. But anti white racism and incitement doesn’t appear to trouble the CCDH or Twitter.

Worse was to come for Katie, as a fake award ‘hit job’ was posted online the same day. She was mocking a muslim couple sent to prison for plotting a terror offence and hatching plan to behead her. All this was (badly) edited out to make her speech look as damning as possible, no context around who she was mocking or why. Katie had of course lost the right to reply by this point, so figures such as Piers Morgan then amplified the message that Hopkins is clearly ‘racist’. Her fate was being sealed in a similar manner to Tommy Robinson and others before her. The Stasi would be proud.

See how this works yet?

So, who are the new fascists of our age, dictating to Twitter what statements are acceptable and who should be allowed to express an opinion? Remember, in the UK we have a right to freedom of expression and that includes a right to offend. The left crave a totalitarian world where all these liberties are taken away.

Let’s look at the CCDH.

The news was broken by CEO Imran Ahmed (@imi_ahmed), fronting up the message for the CCDH. Ahmed is political advisor to Hilary Benn, Labour MP, a position taken after a number of years as a Labour activist, which included working on Andy Slaughter’s 2010 election campaign with communications and targeting.

AltNewsMedia can reveal the email sent to Twitter after the meeting with both the CCDH and Riley, stating the follow up action expected of them.

CCDH was previously registered as Brixton Endeavours Ltd, before re-registering as Center For Countering Digital Hate in November 2019. The company is British (trading address in East Finchley London), with the mis-spelling of Centre presumably trying to provide the appearance of an American organisation.

Directors include:

Siobhan Marie McAndrew – University Lecturer at Bristol University. McAndrew lectures on Politics. One of her papers, published in 2015 was entitled ‘Mosques and Political Engagement in Britain’. Her work has been commissioned by the Home Office.

Kirsty Jean McNeill – Executive at ‘Save The Children’ and 3 years as a ‘special advisor’ to Number 10.

Morgan James McSweeney – Director at ‘Labourlist’ and formerly a director of ‘Dr Majeed’ in partnership with Iraqi Hayder Majeed

AltNewsMedia will be following up on a number of aspects to this story, and the individuals involved.

Update:

We have been passed further information with links to Fiyaz Mughal (founder of the discredited activists Tell Mama) and Hope Not Hate, which we will be looking into and seeking to clarify.