[9] Political scientist Nadia Marzouki identified ACT for America as part of an "echo chamber of Islamophobic misinformation".

[18] The Huffington Post, linking to a report by the Center for American Progress,[19] described ACT for America as "a central player in the movement to generate fears about Islamic Sharia law".

[20] Ryan Lenz of the Southern Poverty Law Center criticized the group as having "eagerly tapped into a groundswell of anti-Muslim rage and done what it could to fan the flames".

[21] According to The New York Times, the conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney, "a hawkish policy analyst and commentator, who has been known to take polarizing positions", described the group as a "force multiplier" in promoting laws proposed by David Yerushalmi.

[10] These officials include U.S. Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, who appeared on ACT's "internet television show before hosting a series of hearings on radicalization that singled out Muslims in 2011".

[21]The Anti-Defamation League writes that while ACT's leadership denies holding bigoted views, "the group often argues against the distinction between radical and mainstream Islam".

[27] A spokesman for the group at a 2016 town meeting near Missoula, Montana promoted conspiracy theories that Muslim immigrants were importing Islamic law into the U.S.[28] After an anti-Islamic white supremacist killed two intervening bystanders in a May 2017 metro train attack on a young woman in a hijab and her teenage black companion, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler asked the federal government to deny a permit for a "Trump Free Speech Rally" at Terry Schrunk Plaza, a federal enclave adjacent to city hall,[29] tweeting that the rally could "only exacerbate an already difficult situation" in the city,[30] and called for withholding a permit for an ACT for America rally at the same location.

[27] In 2015, Jordan Denari and Nathan Lean of Georgetown University's Bridge Initiative research project wrote that ACT for America "boasts nearly 300,000 members and 890 chapters across the country".