The "UK Files": A History of the Center for Countering Digital Hate

How a would-be leader in the fight against fake news got its start... by helping generate fake news. Part One in a series

The rise of Sir Keir Starmer, a poll favorite to become Britain’s next Prime Minister, was aided by the undeclared assistance of a “fake news” operation

Over the weekend, the United Kingdom’s paper of record, the Sunday Times, reported on how an influential organization called “Labour Together” failed to declare its funding, as required by law. The Times exclusive, “The secretive guru who plotted Keir Starmer’s path to power with undeclared cash,” has significance in the U.K. primarily because “Labour Together” is the organization that created and incubated the leadership campaign of Sir Keir Starmer, a favorite to oust current PM Rishi Sunak and become Britain’s next Prime Minister. The Times said he “appears destined for Downing Street.”

But that’s only part of the story.

Previously unseen documents in the collection are presented here as a complement to the Times investigation based on the same cache of documents. They shed new light on the creation of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the mysterious and influential non-profit accused in a recent lawsuit filed by X of producing bogus research reports about hate speech and disinformation on social media.