Project Veritas

Project Veritas
FormationJune 2010; 14 years ago (June 2010)[1]
FounderJames O'Keefe
TypeNGO
Legal status
Location
Methods
FundingDonors Trust
Websitewww.projectveritas.com
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Project Veritas was an American far-right[14] activist[15] group founded by James O'Keefe in 2010.[19] The group produced deceptively edited videos[13] of its undercover operations,[20] which use secret recordings[20] in an effort to discredit mainstream media organizations and progressive groups.[21][22] Project Veritas also used entrapment[12] to generate bad publicity for its targets,[2] and propagated disinformation[24] and conspiracy theories[32] in its videos and operations.

Project Veritas's targets included Planned Parenthood, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), NPR, CNN, and The Washington Post. In 2009, Project Veritas associates published misleading[2] videos that depicted ACORN employees providing advice on concealing illegal activity, causing ACORN to shut down after losing funding;[3] the Attorney General of California cleared ACORN of wrongdoing in 2010,[2] and the associates paid a total of $150,000 in settlements to an ACORN employee who sued for defamation.[2] NPR CEO Vivian Schiller resigned in 2013 after Project Veritas released a deceptively[2][3] edited video portraying another NPR executive making controversial comments about the Tea Party movement and NPR's federal funding.[33] Project Veritas unsuccessfully attempted to mislead The Washington Post into publishing false information about the Roy Moore sexual misconduct allegations in 2017;[34][21] the Post won a Pulitzer Prize after uncovering the operation.[7][35] In 2022, a jury awarded $120,000 against Project Veritas for fraudulent misrepresentation of the nonprofit Democracy Partners.[36]

As a non-governmental organization, Project Veritas was financed by conservative fund Donors Trust[2] (which provided over $6.6 million from 2011 to 2019)[21][37][38] and other supporters, including the Donald J. Trump Foundation.[39] In 2020, The New York Times published an exposé detailing Project Veritas's use of spies recruited by Erik Prince to infiltrate "Democratic congressional campaigns, labor organizations and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda". The Times piece notes O'Keefe's and Prince's close links to the Trump administration, and details contributions such as a $1 million transfer of funds from an undisclosed source to support their work. The findings were based in part on discovery documents in a case brought by the American Federation of Teachers, Michigan, which had been infiltrated by Project Veritas.[40]

The organization's board fired O'Keefe in February 2023 for what it said was financial malfeasance with donor money.[41] In September 2023, Project Veritas suspended all operations after laying off most of its employees.[42] In December of the same year, Hannah Giles, who succeeded O'Keefe as CEO of the organization, resigned.

  1. ^ a b Boburg, Shawn (November 30, 2017). "N.Y. attorney general warns Project Veritas its fundraising license is at risk". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Goss, Brian Michael (March 12, 2018). "Veritable Flak Mill". Journalism Studies. 19 (4): 548–563. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2017.1375388. ISSN 1461-670X. S2CID 149185981.
  3. ^ a b c d Kroeger, Brooke (August 31, 2012). "Watchdog". Undercover Reporting: The Truth About Deception. Northwestern University Press. pp. 249–254. ISBN 978-0-8101-2619-0. JSTOR j.ctt22727sf.17. Archived from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020 – via JSTOR.
  4. ^ a b c Dalesio, Emery P. (May 21, 2019). "N Carolina woman sues Project Veritas, founder for libel". Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  5. ^ a b [2][3][4]
  6. ^ Wolfman-Arent, Avi (May 31, 2018). "N.J. lawmakers question teachers union on undercover videos". WHYY. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Lakshmanan-2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (Winter 2018). "How 'Fake News' Changed The New York Times – and Didn't". The Wilson Quarterly. Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  9. ^ Covucci, David (January 14, 2020). "James O'Keefe claims Bernie Sanders will throw Trump fans in gulags". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021. O'Keefe is the head of Project Veritas, a far-right outlet that uses misleading edits and various forms of entrapment to try and catch Democrats, liberals, and media members in "shocking" statements.
  10. ^ Wilson, Jason (July 27, 2018). "What is 'shadow banning', and why did Trump tweet about it?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  11. ^ Bernd, Candice (November 30, 2017). "James O'Keefe Talks 'Real News' in Dallas After Failing to Plant Fake News at The Washington Post". The Texas Observer. Archived from the original on November 5, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  12. ^ a b [2][6][7][8][9][10][11]
  13. ^ a b Deceptive...
  14. ^ Far-right...
  15. ^ Activist...
    • Scherer, Jasper (January 11, 2023). "Conroe brewery backs out of 'rally against censorship' featuring Kyle Rittenhouse". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. Cassandra Spencer, a Defiance Press publishing manager who previously worked for the conservative activist group Project Veritas, is also set to appear at the rally
    • "Trump applauds far-right social media provocateurs". AP NEWS. April 21, 2021. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. Trump singled out for praise James O'Keefe, the right-wing activist whose Project Veritas organization once tried to plant a false story in The Washington Post.
    • Barry, Dan (November 6, 2022). "In Affluent Greenwich, It's Republicans vs. 'Trumplicans'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. The Greenwich Republican ecosystem is such that James O'Keefe, the founder of the conservative activist group Project Veritas, is practically a local celebrity.
    • DePeau-Wilson, Michael (January 31, 2023). "Video of Pfizer Employee Explaining COVID Vaccine Research Debunked". www.medpagetoday.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. Project Veritas, a conservative activist group known for spreading misinformation, recently published a concealed-camera video allegedly showing a Pfizer employee describing the company's COVID-19 vaccine research efforts
    • Greene, David (November 29, 2017). "A Conservative On Project Veritas". Morning Edition. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023. The conservative activist James O'Keefe and his nonprofit Project Veritas have sprung sting operations on many media organizations, including NPR. In 2011, after one such scheme, NPR pushed out our CEO and also our top fundraiser. These operations often involve undercover videos edited in misleading ways.
    • Al-Rawi, Ahmed; Celestini, Carmen; Stewart, Nicole; Worku, Nathan (March 21, 2022). "How Google Autocomplete Algorithms about Conspiracy Theorists Mislead the Public". M/C Journal. 25 (1). doi:10.5204/mcj.2852. eISSN 1441-2616. S2CID 247603535. The same misleading label can be found via searching for James O'Keefe of Project Veritas, who is positively labelled as "American activist". Veritas is known for releasing audio and video recordings that contain false information designed to discredit academic, political, and service organisations
    • Jackson, Sam (2020). The Oath Keepers: patriotism and the edge of violence in a right-wing antigovernment group. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-55031-4. Groups like Oath Keepers pounced on information provided by Project Veritas—a conservative activist group known for conducting manipulative video stings of progressive organizations—that allegedly documented organized attempts by Democrats to rig the election
  16. ^ Pilkington, Ed (November 29, 2017). "Project Veritas: how fake news prize went to rightwing group beloved by Trump". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference Haag-2017b was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Biddle, Sam (June 11, 2019). "Right-Wing sting group Project Veritas is breaking Facebook's "authentic behavior" rule. Now what?". The Intercept. Archived from the original on September 6, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  19. ^ [1][4][16][17][18]
  20. ^ a b [2][3][4]
  21. ^ a b c Bennett, W. Lance; Livingston, Steven (October 2020). "The Coordinated Attack on Authoritative Institutions". The Disinformation Age. Cambridge University Press. pp. 261–294. doi:10.1017/9781108914628.011. ISBN 978-1-108-91462-8. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  22. ^ Damann, Taylor (January 8, 2019). "Project Veritas and the Changing Face of Fake News". Gateway Journalism Review. 47 (351). Southern Illinois University Carbondale. ISSN 2158-7345. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021. Project Veritas seems to only consider influencing political outcomes, though. O'Keefe's open pride in affecting the employment of several individuals in leadership for various liberal media outlets, his hand in influencing political elections, or even influencing public opinion on abortion are striking. Conducting guerrilla journalism that seeks to expose only liberals and Democrats is inherently ideological.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference O'Harrow-2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Disinformation...
  25. ^ Reimann, Nicholas (November 10, 2020). "Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Offering Up To $1 Million For Evidence Of Voter Fraud". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021. The far-right conspiracy theory-driven group Project Veritas is offering rewards of $25,000 for tips relating to election fraud in Pennsylvania.
  26. ^ Tolz, Vera (December 3, 2020). "Troll Factories". London Review of Books. Vol. 3, no. 23. ISSN 0260-9592. Archived from the original on December 30, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021. Right-wing conspiracy theories are spread by homegrown US outfits such as Project Veritas, started in 2010 by James O'Keefe, and Infowars, set up a decade earlier by Alex Jones.
  27. ^ Rhodes, Wendy. "Laura Loomer won nomination — but how deep is GOP support?". The Palm Beach Post. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021. Project Veritas is a right-wing conspiracy theory website that critics say relies on doctored videos and aggressive, videotaped altercations to promote radical ideas and often baseless conspiracy theories in an attempt to discredit those they oppose.
  28. ^ Phelan, Matthew; Hicks, Jesse (August 3, 2020). "Inside the Project Veritas Plan to Steal the Election". The New Republic. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021. For an operation premised on conspiracy theories and fueled by raging paranoia, it will come as no surprise that the agents helping to spearhead Project Veritas's election mischief are oddballs on the fringes of American political life.
  29. ^ Walsh, Joe (November 10, 2020). "Mailman Recants Bogus Voter Fraud Allegation That Launched A GOP Conspiracy". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021. O'Keefe is best known for his hidden camera sting operations against people whom he perceives to be left-wing. Over the last week, Project Veritas has converted itself into a hub for thinly-sourced and outright implausible voter fraud conspiracy theories, including a claim that Michigan USPS workers were backdating mail-in ballots — even though Michigan does not even accept mail-in ballots delivered after Election Day in the first place.
  30. ^ Dernbach, Becky Z.; Ansari, Hibah; Peters, Joey (September 29, 2020). "How did an August primary election in Minneapolis turn into a national right-wing disinformation campaign against absentee ballots?". Sahan Journal. Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2021. A right-wing conspiracy outfit partners with a man of questionable reputation in the Somali community to allege "ballot harvesting fraud" in Minnesota. [...] Again though, with all the anonymous sources and vague allegations, even people sympathetic to O'Keefe's conspiracy theory may have trouble following the plotline.
  31. ^ Chait, Jonathan (November 27, 2017). "Conservative Tries to Prove Washington Post Is Fake News, Proves Opposite". New York. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021. James O'Keefe is a celebrated right-wing pseudo-journalist whose job consists largely of attempting to prove various conservative conspiracy theories but, instead, accidentally disproving them. [...] But this larger conceptual problem with O'Keefe's enterprise creates a secondary problem, which is that the people who are dumb enough to believe these conspiracy theories are not generally smart enough to carry out a competent entrapment scheme.
  32. ^ [25][26][27][28][29][30][31]
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference Poniewozik-2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ Benkler, Yochai; Faris, Rob; Roberts, Hal (October 2018). "What Can Men Do Against Such Reckless Hate?". Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation and Radicalization in American Politics. Oxford University Press. p. 358. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190923624.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-092362-4. OCLC 1045162158. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021. In November 2017, for example, the right-wing disinformation outfit Project Veritas tried to trip up The Washington Post, offering the Post a fake informant who told the Post that Roy Moore had impregnated her when she was a teenager.
  35. ^ Cite error: The named reference The Pulitzer Prizes-2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  36. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (September 23, 2022). "Project Veritas loses jury verdict to Democratic consulting firm". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 23, 2022. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  37. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rom-2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  38. ^ Cite error: The named reference Schwartz-2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  39. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hellinger-2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  40. ^ Mazzetti, Mark; Goldman, Adam (March 7, 2020). "Erik Prince Recruits Ex-Spies to Help Infiltrate Liberal Groups". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 8, 2020. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  41. ^ Cite error: The named reference Associated Press-2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  42. ^ Falzone, Diana; McLaughlin, Aidan (September 21, 2023). "Project Veritas Suspends All Operations". Mediaite. Archived from the original on February 9, 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2023.


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