In a recent turn of events, Elon Musk has reignited hostilities with the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) following its involvement in the U.S. election interference controversy. This UK-based anti-hate speech organization is refusing to back down in the face of Musk’s allegations.

Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of CCDH, articulated the organization’s commitment, stating, “Our work is centred on stopping the spread of hate and disinformation. We are not going to stop working. We are tirelessly going to continue to work towards that mission through our advocacy and our research.”

Musk’s accusations stem from a report linking CCDH, the Labour Together think tank—previously headed by Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney—and the Labour Party. In an assertive move, he labeled CCDH a “criminal organization” through a post on X, the social media platform he owns, and indicated he was targeting both the organization and its donors. This isn’t the first time Musk has taken legal action against CCDH; a previous lawsuit was quickly dismissed by the courts.

In his own words, Musk declared, “This is war.” Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign recently filed a complaint against the Labour Party, accusing it of election interference by campaigning for Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. Starmer responded by stating that party officials volunteering for Harris’s campaign were “doing it in their spare time.”

The complaint notably mentions McSweeney and Matthew Doyle, Downing Street’s director of communications, attending the Democratic convention in Chicago where they interacted with the Harris campaign team.

Reflecting on Musk’s history of attacks on CCDH and other non-profit organizations that highlight hate speech and disinformation, Ahmed noted, “Elon Musk has a pattern of attacking non-profit, non-partisan organisations that stand against hate speech and misinformation on his platform.” He emphasized that this is not a new tactic for Musk, having previously attempted to intimidate CCDH through a frivolous lawsuit that was dismissed.

While acknowledging McSweeney as a longtime friend and a founding director of CCDH, Ahmed clarified that McSweeney has no operational role within the organization. “Morgan McSweeney will always be a really dear friend of mine. But then again, so is Damian Collins,” Ahmed said, referring to a former Conservative MP on the board of CCDH.

In light of Musk’s recent accusations, Ahmed responded to an article in the Disinformation Chronicle claiming CCDH aimed to “Kill Musk’s Twitter.” He declined to comment on specific internal discussions but explained that the phrase was used to describe their efforts to address the changes Musk made to the platform. “We have used internally the concept of ‘Kill Musk’s Twitter’ as shorthand for taking on the business model that Musk brought to Twitter when he turned it into X,” he said.

Ahmed emphasized the challenges of countering conspiracy theories, stating, “One of the challenges of dealing with conspiracy theorists is that the battlefield is asymmetric. I operate in the world of facts, demonstrable truth. He operates in the realm of fantasy, the latest conspiracy theories.”

Previously, Ahmed served as an aide to Labour MP Angela Eagle during her tenure in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet. Following the Brexit vote, Eagle stepped down and challenged Corbyn for leadership, a campaign that Ahmed spearheaded but ultimately lost. He founded CCDH in 2018 in response to the rise of left-wing antisemitism and in memory of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a far-right extremist.

X has yet to respond to requests for comment.