PUBLISHED: 2024
AUTHOR: Gerald T FitzGerald
Starting in 2017, there was a notable increase in the frequency and intensity of information manipulation attacks on Muslim-led humanitarian and development aid international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs).
These attacks originated with a select group of US-based anti-Muslim think tanks and were disseminated through their own websites, the sites of like-minded organizations, and carried by various sympathetic media outlets in the US and abroad.
The resulting campaigns were designed in large part to persuade politicians on Capitol Hill to take legislative action to disrupt the operations of US-based Muslim-led humanitarian INGOs.
This report maps the landscape of US-based nonstate actors that have engaged in information manipulation campaigns against Muslim-led humanitarian aid and development INGOs.
These actors include think tanks, advocacy groups, and their funders. These information manipulation campaigns gained some traction on Capitol Hill from the 115th through the 118th Congresses and have had cumulative harmful effects on the operations and reputations of the targeted charities.
