Coalition for a Safer Web (CSW) investigates online extremism, produces reports, and advocates for a safer internet. It identifies organizations and groups that leverage social media to spread extremist messaging and to recruit for and organize violent activities across the United States. It focuses on social media messaging that endorses antisemitism, extremism, and violent conspiracies. 1
CSW has urged an Internal Revenue Service investigation into several large left-of-center philanthropies including Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, Open Society Foundations, and Tides Foundation claiming these organizations are funding hate groups that conducted antisemitic protests at colleges and universities. 2
Background
The Coalition for a Safer Web strives to find and eliminate online extremism, hate messaging, and the spread of misinformation, and to advocate for a safer online environment by preventing social media platforms from being a tool for extremists and terrorists. 1
CSW was founded in 2019 by former Clinton administration Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg to support social media platforms and Congress to fight extremists on social media. It issues reports and press releases, communicates to social media companies on extremist activities those companies might be missing, and provides Congress with information on extremist activities on social media. 1
Work Areas
Antisemitism
After the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Coalition for a Safer Web focused on online antisemitism. CSW president Marc Ginsberg argued disinformation on social media drives the polarization and protests that occurred following the attacks and the resulting Israel-Palestinian conflict. The organization is focused on finding and infiltrating antisemitic networks and the funders of these networks to report to law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 3
In November 2023, CSW published a paper titled “The Hamas ‘Influencer Intifada’” which describes Hamas’s media campaign to spread pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel messages and videos through bots across social media platforms. 4
CSW’s March 2024 report identified the organizations and finances of antisemitic and pro-Hamas groups that conducted protests across the country following October 7. The report lists several radical and far-left groups that are promoting events on social media, including Democratic Socialists of America, Antifa, The Party for Socialism and Liberation, Black Lives Matter, The People’s Forum, and ANSWER Coalition. CSW’s report claimed that these protests were financed by foreign and domestic sources including Open Society Foundations, Tides Foundation, Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. It claimed that Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour is a main organizer. The report calls for social media platforms to delete antisemitic accounts, for the government to create a Social Media Standards Board and Early Warning Center, and to ban funding and grants to antisemitic organizations. 5 It recommended that the tax exempt statuses be removed from Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, Open Society Foundations, and Tides Foundation for violating the Internal Revenue Service code that limits them to funding charitable and educations activities. 2
Extremism and Violent Conspiracies
The Coalition for a Safer Web partnered with the Digital Citizens Alliance to research and produce a report entitled “The Domestic Extremist Next Door,” which claimed that social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok allowed domestic extremists to recruit, organize, and plan violent activities in the United States. The investigation focused on the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol and the groups that were involved. 6 The investigation documented the ways extremist groups spread messages and recruit people. It identified social media platform Telegram as one where “more alarmist and extremist messages are being shared.” 7
In January 2021, CSW filed a lawsuit against Apple for not removing Telegram from its app store. CSW claims that Telegram is a “communications channel used by the Russian government and affiliated Neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups, sowing misinformation and racial division in the United States and in Europe.” 8 Telegram provides a combination of social networking and private messaging and was developed and owned by Russian brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov. 8
In July 2022 the CSW published research titled “Trump’s “Truth Social” is a Hideout for Extremist & Antisemitic Groups Tied to Jan 6.” The paper claimed that Truth Social was a sanctuary for extremist groups that continued to “threaten the American people.” 9
Funding
The Coalition for a Safer Web reported revenues of $73,421 and expenses of $97,894 in 2022. 10
The CSW received $18,000 in funding from donor-advised fund Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego. 11
Leadership
Marc Ginsberg is founder and president of the CSW. He grew up in Israel and returned to the United States as an adult. 3 He has a law degree from Georgetown University. He served as United States Ambassador to Morocco during the Clinton administration for 5 years. In 2013 and 2014 he was CEO of the OneVoice Movement, which was founded to support an Israeli and Palestinian two-state solution. Prior to founding the CSW, Ginsberg was a senior diplomatic advisor for the Counter Extremism Project, 12 13 an international policy organization that fights against the threat from extremist ideologies. 14 Ginsberg was a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post and a commentator on national security affairs for several media channels including CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg News, and CBS News as well as many international media outlets. 15
Eric Feinberg is vice president of content moderation at CSW. He is the founder of Global Intellectual Property Enforcement Center which tracks online criminals and criminal organizations and a co-inventor of the HIIT System which tracks down “nefarious web activity.” 16
The CSW’s Advisory Board chair is Tom Ridge. He was previously a U.S. Representative, the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush administration, and former governor of Pennsylvania. 17
References
- Marc Ginsberg on Efforts to Combat Domestic Extremism.” C-SPAN. June 22, 2021. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.c-span.org/video/?512633-4/marc-ginsberg-efforts-combat-domestic-extremism
- “Coalition for a Safer Web calls for federal probe of tax-exempt funding of hate groups inflaming protests at US colleges.” Expresswire. May 1, 2024. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.einpresswire.com/article/707765542/coalition-for-a-safer-web-calls-for-federal-probe-of-tax-exempt-funding-of-hate-groups-inflaming-protests-at-us-colleges
- Braden Hamelin. “Marc Ginsberg: Dedicated To Protecting the Jewish Community in Israel, the US and Online.” Washington Jewish Week. March 6, 2024. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/marc-ginsberg-dedicated-to-protecting-the-jewish-community-in-israel-the-us-and-online/
- The Hamas “Influencer Intifada.” Coalition for a Safer Web. November 15, 2023. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcoalitionsw.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F11%2FHamas-Info-Intifada-11-15-23-Final.docx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK
- Exposing the Organization & Financial Links of Antisemitic & Pro-Hamas Groups.” Research Report by Coalition for a Safer Web. March 23, 2024. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://coalitionsw.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/CSWAntisemetism-1.pdf. Link from https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/707765542/coalition-for-a-safer-web-calls-for-federal-probe-of-tax-exempt-funding-of-hate-groups-inflaming-protests-at-us-colleges
- “Domestic Terrorists and Militias Hiding in Plain Sight on Social Media Platforms To Recruit, Organize, and Terrorize.” Digital Citizens Alliance. April 19, 2021. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/news/press-releases-2021/domestic-terrorists-and-militias-hiding-in-plain-sight-on-social-media-platforms-to-recruit-organize-and-terrorize/
- Cat Zakrzewski. “The Technology 202: Domestic extremists are changing their playbook as social media cracks down.” The Washington Post. August 19, 2021. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/19/technology-202-domestic-extremists-are-changing-their-playbook-social-media-cracks-down/
- Luke Dormehl. “Coalition for a Safer Web sues Apple for not giving Telegram the boot.” Cult of Mac. January 18, 2021. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.cultofmac.com/732764/coalition-for-a-safer-web-group-sues-apple-for-not-giving-telegram-the-boot/
- Trump’s “Truth Social” is a Hideout for Extremist & Antisemitic Groups Tied to Jan 6. Coalition for a Safer Web. July 11, 2022. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fcsafewebdev.wpengine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F07%2FTRUTH-Social-FINAL-7-11-22.docx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK
- Coalition For A Safer Web. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990EZ – Part I). 2022.
- Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Schedule I). 2022.
- LinkedIn – Marc Ginsberg. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-ginsberg-3674b017/details/experience/
- “About Us.” OneVoice. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://www.onevoicemovement.org/about
- Counter Extremism Project homepage. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://www.counterextremism.com/
- “Contributor Marc Ginsberg.” Huffpost. Accessed May 16, 2024. https://www.huffpost.com/author/ambmcg-507
- LinkedIn – Eric Feinberg. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-feinberg-420b4a3/
- “Tom Ridge.” Britannica. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tom-Ridge