One of the leading peddlers of hate against conservatives and conservative organizations is the Southern Poverty Law Center. Repeatedly, the SPLC has classified conservative organizations as dangerous “hate groups” simply for holding mainstream conservative cultural views. Obviously, the SPLC is no unbiased umpire calling balls and strikes. And yet — or rather because of this — the SPLC remains the go-to “neutral” and “nonpartisan” source for left-wing groups, news organizations, and corporations to cite when attacking conservatives.

The SPLC has become one of Big Tech’s leading arbitration “authorities” for classifying “hate” and, as such, the SPLC — its own #MeToo scandal notwithstanding — has tremendous influence over cancel culture. Case in point is the largest online community discussion platform Disqus and its decision to deplatform the conservative site FrontPage Mag. In a email received by the editors at FrontPage, Disqus briefly justified its decision to cancel the website by stating:

It has come to our attention that your site is included in the Hate Groups listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center Hate Map:

As fostering Hate is a violation of the Disqus Terms of Service and Basic Rules, we can no longer support your site on the Disqus network. Disqus will be removed from your site on March 17th, to allow time for transition and a comment export.

All attempts to appeal or even a follow-up seeking further explanation from Disqus have gone unanswered. The fact that the SPLC had dubiously and mendaciously labeled FrontPage a “hate group” was all the “evidence” Disqus needed to void the contract.

This cancellation by Disqus serves to reinforce the wisdom in our January decision to end the use of Disqus for our own website’s reader comments. We simply read the writing on the wall. (As a reminder, we now feature select reader comments in our editions several times a week.) It is clear that the Left is seeking to use every available avenue to cancel and shut down as much conservative content as possible. The cancel culture war has only just begun.