GoKawiilAn Effort investigation has identified a coordinated operation to influence American lawmakers by five foreign non-government organizations and their US affiliates. These NGOs have converged upon a unified strategy: use the rhetoric of ‘child safety’ to advocate for digital ID laws that would prevent adults from using the internet anonymously.
In Britain, they succeeded in passing those laws. They now form part of a system which surveils, arrests, and jails political dissidents. Digital ID laws are a key component used to strip Brits of internet anonymity, an otherwise effective technological countermeasure against authoritarianism.
British NGOs are now replicating their playbook in the United States of America, attempting to pass a patchwork of digital ID laws in 21 states and the US Congress.
One British NGO, 5Rights, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but has failed to file critical information related to its foreign leadership. All five foreign NGOs have influenced American policy, either directly or using American proxies with significant foreign management.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) was founded by British Labour consultants Imran Ahmed and Morgan McSweeney2.
CCDH has already been involved in censorship scandals in the US and UK. They led a boycott campaign against X immediately after Elon Musk’s acquisition, sponsored major censorship legislation in the UK, and frequently hosted events in which US and UK government officials advocated for censorship.3
America First Legal, a law firm connected with the Trump administration, accused CCDH of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in 2024. The US Department of Justice has not publicly announced any investigation into CCDH, and did not respond to our request for comment.
Effort independently corroborated the core claims made in this letter about the nationalities and residences of CCDH leadership — that Imran Ahmed is CEO of both organizations and is a British national, that Clark and Brookes are shared directors of both US and UK entities, and that McNeill was a board member until July 11, 2024.
CCDH supported bills with the explicit intent of importing British laws. A joint statement by Buffy Wicks, the lead author of AB 2273, Jordan Cunningham, another AB 2273 author, and 5Rights Foundation states, “The Bill is practicable and realistic, drawing as it does on the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC).”
AB 2273 was co-designed by 5Rights Foundation, a foreign principal that paid to lobby for AB 2273, according to their own Foreign Agents Registration Act filing.
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