In a move that has sent ripples through the U.S. civil rights landscape, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on October 3, 2025, that it is severing all ties with the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a decision that marks a dramatic shift in the agency’s approach to partnerships with civil rights organizations. The announcement, made by FBI Director Kash Patel in a widely circulated post on X (formerly Twitter), comes amid mounting conservative criticism of the SPLC’s methods and its controversial “hate map.”
Patel minced no words in his statement, declaring, “The Southern Poverty Law Center long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine. Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence. That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership.” According to Reuters, Patel’s post was unequivocal: “Under this FBI, all ties with the SPLC have officially been terminated.”
The SPLC, founded in 1971 by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr., has built a reputation over decades as a watchdog tracking hate groups and extremism across the United States. Its “Hate Map” is a non-exhaustive compilation of nearly 1,400 organizations it deems to promote ideologies such as racism, anti-LGBTQ sentiment, sexism, religious bigotry, or antigovernment extremism. However, the map—and the SPLC’s broader approach—has come under increasing fire, especially from conservative politicians and activists who argue that the organization unfairly targets right-leaning groups and individuals.
The immediate catalyst for the FBI’s decision appears to be the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September 2025, a high-profile killing that has amplified scrutiny of the SPLC’s labeling practices. Kirk, founder of the Arizona-based Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during an appearance at a Utah college campus. The suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, reportedly told a roommate he acted because of Kirk’s “hatred,” according to prosecutors cited by Reuters. Authorities have said Robinson acted alone.
The day before Kirk’s death, he was mentioned in the SPLC’s “Hatewatch” newsletter. This timing led billionaire Elon Musk to post on X, accusing the SPLC of “incitement to murder Charlie Kirk,” though he offered no evidence for this serious allegation. Musk’s post read, “Incitement to violence by evil propaganda organizations like SPLC is unacceptable. This is getting innocent people killed.” The SPLC, for its part, did not directly address Patel’s or Musk’s accusations in its official response, but reaffirmed its mission: “For decades, we have shared data and analysis with the public to protect civil rights and hold extremists accountable. We remain committed to exposing hate and extremism as we work to equip communities with knowledge and defend the rights and safety of marginalized people.”
The controversy surrounding the SPLC is not new. Republican lawmakers have long criticized the center for what they describe as a political agenda masquerading as civil rights advocacy. In October 2023, Senators James Lankford and Chuck Grassley urged the FBI to cut ties with the SPLC, calling it “biased and unreliable for labeling faith-based and conservative organizations as hate groups.” U.S. Representative James Comer echoed these concerns last year, stating in a press release, “The SPLC has weaponized its designation of ‘hate group’ to target conservative persons, organizations, and non-profits who hold opposing viewpoints or policy positions.” Comer also cited a 2019 federal judge’s conclusion that the SPLC’s “hate group” label does not “depend upon objective data or evidence” and described the designation as “an entirely subjective inquiry.”
The FBI’s break with the SPLC is part of a broader rethinking of its relationships with organizations that provide intelligence and analysis on domestic extremism. Just two days before Patel’s SPLC announcement, the FBI also ended its partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish advocacy group that tracks antisemitism. The ADL had included Turning Point USA in a “Glossary of Extremism and Hate,” but deleted the list from its website after facing criticism from Musk and other conservatives.
According to Reuters, a Justice Department official (speaking anonymously) noted that the FBI’s working relationship with the SPLC had already been “winding down for months” before Patel’s public declaration. Over the years, both the SPLC and ADL have provided research on hate crimes, domestic extremism, and law enforcement training, but their influence has waned amid growing skepticism from sections of the political spectrum.
The SPLC’s inclusion of Turning Point USA on its “Hate Map” as an “antigovernmental general” group has been a particular flashpoint. In its 2024 report, “The Year in Hate and Extremism,” the SPLC described Turning Point as a “case study in the hard right.” Kirk himself responded forcefully before his death, writing in a May 26, 2025 post, “The SPLC has added Turning Point to their ridiculous ‘hate group’ list, right next to the KKK and neo-Nazis, a cheap smear from a washed-up org that’s been fleecing scared grandmas for decades. They somehow still rake in over $100 million a year peddling their ‘hate map’ nonsense, sitting pretty in their Montgomery ‘Poverty Palace’ while crying about ‘hate’ to line their pockets. Even former staffers called their racket a ‘con’.”
America First Legal, a conservative legal group, has also played a role in stoking scrutiny of the SPLC. The organization obtained documents via a Freedom of Information Act request and provided them to The Daily Signal, fueling accusations of inappropriate ties between the Biden administration and the SPLC. “All Americans should be shocked, appalled, and terrified that the Biden Justice Department was taking advice from a hate-filled, morally bankrupt organization like the Southern Poverty Law Center,” said Ian Prior, senior counselor at America First Legal. “The SPLC’s agenda is anti-American to its core, and we must ensure that the SPLC never regains the power that it was so wrongly granted by the woke bureaucrats who ran this country until this past January.”
Despite the FBI’s severance, the SPLC remains steadfast in its stated mission to “equip communities with knowledge and defend the rights and safety of marginalized people.” The organization’s spokesperson reiterated its commitment to exposing hate and extremism, while critics—both inside and outside government—continue to question its objectivity and methods.
For now, the FBI’s decision signals a turning point in the relationship between federal law enforcement and some of the nation’s most prominent civil rights watchdogs. Whether this marks a new era of independence for the agency or a retreat from established partnerships remains to be seen, but the debate over who defines hate, and on what grounds, is far from settled.
