Rep. Ken Buck, serving on the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees, recently addressed the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) in a letter after discovering that two affiliated US-based nonprofits have concealed donor details in their tax forms. The UK-based GDI has been scrutinized for blacklisting conservative news outlets from advertising platforms.
We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.
GDI is linked to the US-based public charity Disinformation Index Inc. and the private organization AN Foundation, also referred to as the Disinformation Index Foundation. In their 2021 tax forms, both groups withheld information about donors, officers, and board members, claiming federal exemption due to harassment, the Washington Examiner found.
GDI’s lawyer, Marcus Owens, explained that these actions were taken to protect personnel and their families from threats and hacking attacks.
In his letter, Rep. Buck demanded that GDI CEO Clare Melford produce a “complete and unredacted list of donors” for both US-based organizations, asserting that the concealed information obstructs the public’s understanding of potential conflicts of interest and ideological leanings. He emphasized that American taxpayers deserve to know the composition of organizations that could impact their freedom of speech