TikTok Investor Accused of Funding ‘OG Conspiracy Theorists’

Billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass has poured millions into anti-Muslim and pro-Israel groups, according to a report. Yass, perhaps best known as a Republican megadonor, contributed a total of $16 million to such groups in recent years, according to a joint investigation by The Guardian and Responsible Statecraft. Yass reportedly provided $7.9 million to Jerusalem Online University from 2014 to 2019 via a grant-making group. That group, the Claws Foundation, where Yass served as a director, also reportedly gave a $10,000 grant to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces in 2011 and $35,000 in grants to the Center for Security Policy, a group founded by the anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney. The group is also said to have given $250,000 to the anti-Muslim David Horowitz Freedom Center in 2012 and 2013. “The fact Yass is donating to Gaffney and Horowitz’s organizations shows how extreme his politics are,” Tommy Vietor, former Obama National Security Council spokesperson, told The Guardian. “They are beyond Trump. They are OG conspiracy theorists. Gaffney in particular.”