For years, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which is organized as a non-profit, built its reputation by labeling others – tracking “extremists,” publishing its controversial “hate map,” and influencing media narratives nationwide. Now, the spotlight has flipped.

The group that built its reputation by putting targets on others is now under scrutiny itself – and critics say it’s long overdue. They argue the organization’s “hate group” labels often fall along political lines, frequently tagging groups like anti-abortion advocates, immigration watchdogs, and parent groups pushing for school accountability. It has even labeled Turning Point USA as an “anti-government extremist group.”

On their website, the SPLC describes themselves as “a beacon of hope, fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to help create a multiracial democracy where we can all live and thrive. Today calls for us to maintain our resolve in the face of another fight for justice.”

That’s the polished mission statement. What the group really is: a Democratic organization disguised as a civil rights watchdog. In December of 2025, House Republicans had a hearing about the group and said that the SPLC coordinated efforts with the Biden Administration to “target Christian and conservative Americans and deprive them of their constitutional rights to free speech and free association.”

Behind their sanitized branding, a very different set of questions for the SPLC is now taking center stage. According to the Associated Press, the group has also been indicted by a federal grand jury in Alabama on 11 counts of wire and bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says the SPLC has been “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

At the center of the indictments is the group’s use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups and gather intelligence on them. The indictment against them alleges they improperly raised money (millions) to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups – some of which allegedly carried out crimes.

The SPLC says they will fight against the “false allegations” and that the information they gathered was used to save lives.

One of the group’s informants was reportedly even part of an online chat tied to organizing the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia – a white nationalist gathering that critics have invoked for years in attacks against Donald Trump.

For a long time, the SPLC handed out labels from its “hate map” like a self-appointed referee. Now, it’s the one under review. Whether the charges stick or not, one thing is clear: the spotlight it aimed at others has finally swung back its way.