Billionaire George Soros was revealed to have donated $250,000 to CCDH, an organization accused of trying to wipe out Elon Musk’s X network and pressure conservative media to censor.

Billionaire George Soros in Berlin, Germany, June 8, 2017. Photo: Getty.
Liberal billionaire George Soros has donated $250,000 to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization that is pressuring advertisers to cut ties with the X platform, the Washington Free Beacon reported on November 18.

A funding network founded by Mr Soros has funded a controversial UK-based NGO that is seeking to “take down” billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X and censor conservative media.

According to a database maintained by Mr. Soros’s Open Society Foundation (OSF), the charity last year awarded CCDH a $250,000 “general support” grant. While the nonprofit claims its goal is to hold social media platforms “accountable” for spreading hate, it has in practice pressured advertisers to censor businesses and lobbied to remove and “cancel” news outlets it deems offensive, the newspaper said.

CCDH, founded by Imran Ahmed, a former member of the British Labour Party, has specifically targeted conservative media outlets such as the Federalist and the Daily Wire for alleged racist content, according to the source. The nonprofit has also reportedly tried to convince US lawmakers to create an “independent digital regulator.”

CCDH has criticized many social media companies for failing to curb extremism, but according to the newspaper, they are particularly hostile to Musk’s X platform. Internal CCDH documents leaked by journalists last year showed that the organization’s top goal was to “wipe out Musk’s Twitter.”

Musk has long feuded with both CCDH and Mr. Soros, and last year attempted to sue the nonprofit for allegedly conducting a “fearmongering campaign” to drive advertisers off the platform. The X CEO also accused Mr. Soros of “multiple crimes against humanity” and funding attacks on his company Tesla earlier this year.

US President Donald Trump also announced that his administration will sue the Hungarian-born billionaire, accusing him of using “professional agitators” to organize riots in the US.

Critics have long accused Mr. Soros and his network of nongovernmental organizations of being behind protest movements around the world, interfering in elections, trying to reshape local media and suppressing dissenting views.