CfA Responds to Crypto Company’s Denial of Terror Financing Entanglements
View this email in your browser ([link removed])
** CfA's December 15, 2023 Newsletter
------------------------------------------------------------
With your support, Campaign for Accountability is working to expose corruption and hold the powerful accountable.
** This Week's Updates:
------------------------------------------------------------
CfA Responds to Circle’s Denial of Terror Financing Entanglements
In early November, CfA wrote ([link removed]) to Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) alerting them to apparent entanglements between US-based crypto company Circle, Asian blockchain network TRON, and TRON’s unscrupulous founder, Justin Sun. Despite Sun’s questionable behavior—publicly known before Circle strengthened ties with him—Circle issues its USDC stablecoin on his TRON network. Some of this USDC was caught up in a July 2023 Israeli asset seizure of TRON wallets linked to the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In a letter to the Senators disputing CfA’s concerns, Circle’s Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Global Policy Dante Disparte did not deny that USDC was among the currencies that passed through the seized wallets. Instead, he argued that USDC made up only a small portion of the total assets – a confirmation that its integration with TRON can, indeed,
make Circle’s currency more attractive to bad actors.
Yesterday, CfA issued a response ([link removed]) to Circle’s denial: “Rather than addressing the matters CfA raised, Mr. Disparte sidestepped the primary allegations and instead denied claims CfA did not make,” CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith wrote in a new letter ([link removed]) sent yesterday to Sens. Brown and Warren. “How and to what extent crypto currencies may be financing terrorist organizations and America’s enemies is not only an important banking issue, but also a critical national security matter.”
How Florida’s Anti-Abortion Centers Operate in the Shadows
This week, Reveal News published evidence ([link removed]) of serious disfunction within the Florida Pregnancy Care Network (FPCN), a nonprofit charged with administering state funding for anti-abortion clinics known as crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). In April, Florida passed $25 million in funding for FPCN to accompany a six-week abortion ban, which will go into effect if the state’s supreme court rejects a challenge ([link removed]) to the original 15-week ban. Unlike real reproductive healthcare clinics, CPCs are largely unregulated ([link removed]) and have no legal obligation to provide accurate information to their patients. This lack of oversight endangers pregnant women, who can
receive inadequate care ([link removed]) or medical misinformation ([link removed]) intended to deter abortion. In Florida’s case, FPCN appears to have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to a clinic that lost its nonprofit status and was facing large tax liens ([link removed]) from the IRS. According to Reveal News, FPCN only audited clinics for one financial quarter and gave them 30 days’ notice about upcoming reviews.
Florida isn’t the only state with a history of giving taxpayer money to clinics accused of misusing funds. In 2020, CfA called on Pennsylvania officials ([link removed]) to investigate an anti-abortion group called Real Alternatives for failing to provide adequate patient care; their contract was finally terminated ([link removed]) in October of this year. Prior to that, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer heeded CfA’s calls ([link removed]) to strip funding for Real Alternatives from her state’s budget.
YouTube Quietly Hides Channel Monetization Indicator
On Tuesday, Wired reported ([link removed]) that YouTube had removed a piece of code that indicated whether or not a channel was monetized through the YouTube Partner Program, which enables creators to earn a cut of ad revenue generated by their videos. In order to qualify, channels must be “advertiser friendly” and abide by YouTube’s Community Guidelines ([link removed]) , which forbid hate speech and “deceptive content with risks of egregious harm.” Former beneficiaries of the YouTube Partner Program include misogynist influencer Andrew Tate ([link removed]) and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ([link removed]) , while anti-LGBTQ figures like Matt Walsh continue to profit
([link removed]) from their channels. Unfortunately, Community Guidelines don’t actually keep this content off of YouTube. A for “Andrew Tate” delivers videos that seem to have evaded YouTube’s policies by featuring Tate as a guest. Others are simply reposted ([link removed]) from Tate’s Rumble account, or turned into “motivational” montages by fans. YouTube profits from the ads placed on these videos, which is bad enough, but channel monetization creates an incentive for users to repost content from Tate and other banned individuals.
A 2022 report ([link removed]) from CfA’s Tech Transparency Project uncovered a large number of YouTube videos uploaded by anti-government militias, which used the platform to promote their activities and attract new recruits. Some of the videos received tens of thousands of views, and depicted training sessions or simulated ambushes. YouTube monetized this content with ads, even though it had removed similar channels run by groups like the Oath Keepers. Even if these channels were not part of the YouTube Partner Program, they provided a dangerous platform for those wishing to spread anti-govenment ideas–especially in the wake of January 6th. Now, thanks to this policy change, it will be impossible for journalists and independent researchers to determine if other YouTube creators are profiting from dangerous or hateful content.
What We're Reading
US SEC denies Coinbase petition for crypto rulemaking ([link removed])
FTC is investigating Adobe over its rules for canceling software subscriptions after years of customer complaints ([link removed])
Illinois agrees to stop enforcing a controversial new law cracking down on crisis pregnancy centers ([link removed])
** Follow Our Work:
------------------------------------------------------------
We thank you for your continued support. Without people like you, our work would not be possible.
Here is how you can stay involved and help us accomplish our mission:
1. Follow CfA on Threads ([link removed]) and BlueSky ([link removed])
2. Follow the Tech Transparency Project on Threads ([link removed]) and Bluesky ([link removed])
3. Tell your friends and colleagues ([link removed]) about CfA.
4. Send us a tip ([link removed]) .
5. Make a tax-deductible donation ([link removed]) .
Be on the lookout for more updates about our work in the upcoming weeks. Thanks again for signing up to be a part of CfA!
Sincerely,
Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability
============================================================
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2023 Campaign for Accountability, All rights reserved.
You signed up for this list at campaignforaccountability.org
Our mailing address is:
Campaign for Accountability
611 Pennsylvania Ave SE
#337
Washington, District Of Columbia 20003
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]
