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BREAKING: SPLC Under Criminal Investigation for Paid Informant Program

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on March 3, 2020, in Montgomery, Alabama. (Barry Lewis/InPictures/Getty Images)

Tyler O'Neil / @Tyler2ONeil

Tyler O'Neil is senior editor at The Daily Signal and the author of two books: "Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center," and "The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government."

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center over its paid informant program, the SPLC announced Tuesday.

Bryan Fair, the group’s interim president and CEO, said in a video statement that the SPLC faces “a criminal investigation and possible charges.”

“Although we don’t know all the details, the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” he added.

?BREAKINGThe Southern Poverty Law Center says it is under "criminal investigation" for its paid informant program?Journalists like me have long expected SPLC might have cultivated informants, but this explicit confirmation is new.?1/5https://t.co/75hLVqs9dQ pic.twitter.com/Yw6V6Irnrw— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) April 21, 2026

?BREAKINGThe Southern Poverty Law Center says it is under "criminal investigation" for its paid informant program?Journalists like me have long expected SPLC might have cultivated informants, but this explicit confirmation is new.?1/5https://t.co/75hLVqs9dQ pic.twitter.com/Yw6V6Irnrw

Fair added that the use of paid informants was “necessary” because of threats the SPLC faced.

Fair noted that in 1983, members of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan firebombed the SPLC’s offices, and he claimed staff have faced “countless credible threats” since.

“For decades, we engaged in unprecedented litigation to dismantle the Klan and other hate groups,” he said.

“In light of that work, we sought to protect the safety of our staff and the public. We frequently shared what we learned from informants with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI. We did not, however, share our use of informants broadly with anyone, to protect the identity and safety of the informants and their families.”

He insisted that the SPLC no longer works with paid informants, and noted that the center hired them “in the shadow of the height of the civil rights movement, which had seen bombings of churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system.”

Fair also criticized Republicans and the Trump administration for targeting the SPLC.

“In October, FBI Director Kash Patel announced the bureau would sever its ties with the SPLC, and in December, House Republicans held a hearing to accuse us of being partisan and profitable,” he stated.

Critics have long claimed the SPLC has weaponized its history of suing the KKK into bankruptcy to brand mainstream conservative and Christian groups “hateful” by putting them on a “hate map” with Klan chapters.

A terrorist told the FBI he used the SPLC’s “hate map” to target the Family Research Council in 2012. The SPLC condemned the attack, but kept the council on the map.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.

This is a breaking news story and may be updated.

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