No, The FBI Hasn’t Ditched The Southern Poverty Law Center

Conservative news outlets are hyping a minor website change to suggest that the FBI is distancing itself from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)–a group that monitors hate speech and violence–in response to criticism from anti-gay organizations. But the FBI has issued a statement debunking that narrative and continues to publicly tout its partnership with SPLC on its website.

On March 26, Washington Examiner reporter Paul Bedard asserted that the FBI was ending its relationship with SPLC, noting that a link to the group had been scrubbed from the FBI’s Hate Crime “resources” page and calling it a “significant rejection of the influential legal group.”

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But the claim that the FBI is ending its relationship, or even its website’s relationship, with SPLC in response to right-wing outrage is false. As Good As You’s Jeremy Hooper noted, the FBI continues to list SPLC as a partner in the fight against hate crimes on its website.

The right-wing narrative is also contradicted by an official statement from the FBI. In a statement to The Daily Caller, and FBI spokesperson said:

“Upon review, the Civil Rights program only provides links to resources within the federal government,” an FBI spokesman told The Daily Caller. “While we appreciate the tremendous support we receive from a variety of organizations, we have elected not to identify those groups on the civil rights page.”

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