UK
Telegraph removes article accusing pressure group of amplifying antisemitism
Stop Funding Hate said the daily newspaper agreed to cover its legal fees
April 2, 2025 13:43
Stop Funding Hate said the daily newspaper agreed to cover its legal fees
April 2, 2025 13:43The Telegraph has removed an article claiming that Stop Funding Hate had amplified antisemitic social media posts, following legal objections from the pressure group.
The Press Gazette also reported that The Telegraph had agreed to pay the campaign group’s legal costs accrued in the process of objecting to the article.
Founded in 2016, Stop Funding Hate uses social media to put pressure on major advertisers to pull support from certain British news media which it says “spread hate and division”.
The campaign group is currently encouraging an advertising boycott of GB News, and has previously targeted The Daily Mail, The Sun and the Daily Express. In 2018, it changed its stance on the Express, citing then-editor Gary Jones for bringing about a “significant reduction in anti-migrant stories”.
The Telegraph ran an online article on Saturday 22 March, and The Sunday Telegraph in print the following day, headlined: “Stop Funding Hate campaign group accused of amplifying ‘anti-Semites’.” It alleged that the pressure group “failed to act when Jewish people are the target of hatred on its own social media account”.
According to The Press Gazette, Stop Funding Hate does frequently remove comments by third parties on its posts where it is able to do so, for example on Facebook.
The group said it had repeatedly asked The Telegraph to provide links to the social media posts on which the story was based so it could investigate any “problematic comments by third parties on our pages”, but said the newspaper had not done so.
“As we spelled out in our response (at least, the portion included in the article), #StopFundingHate would never knowingly amplify a social media account that was spreading problematic content,” the campaign group said in a statement.
“It’s a fundamental principle that #StopFundingHate opposes all forms of hate – including antisemitism – and that the campaign must be inclusive of people from all communities.”
By the end of Friday, The Telegraph offered to remove the article and to pay for Stop Funding Hate’s legal costs, although it reportedly did not accept any liability.
Stop Funding Hate’s lawyers are in contact with GB News over segments on its Headliners and Free Speech Nation programmes in which The Telegraph story was discussed, according to The Press Gazette.
The JC contacted The Telegraph for comment.