We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here's What We Learned

[Coyotl]

We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here's What We Learned
7:33
November 23, 2016
Heard on All Things Considered
Laura Sydell


"The whole idea from the start was to build a site that could kind of infiltrate the echo chambers of the alt-right."
Fanatic Studio/Getty Images

A lot of fake and misleading news stories were shared across social media during the election. One that got a lot of traffic had this headline: "FBI Agent Suspected In Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide." The story is completely false, but it was shared on Facebook over half a million times.

We wondered who was behind that story and why it was written. It appeared on a site that had the look and feel of a local newspaper. Denverguardian.com even had the local weather. But it had only one news story — the fake one. .........

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[bhikkhu]

1. An article well worth reading

Mind boggling how much money there is involved in that sort of thing, and its not hard to think how a person faced with that sort of money could be caught up in it. I wouldn't, but I have some hard-learned principles.

Its also most interesting where he says he tried to make the same kind of effort drumming up things on liberal sites, but they never went anywhere: "You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just fizzles out". As opposed to the worst, most unlikely nonsense he could think of going viral on RW groups.

[Coyotl]

17. This business only thrives when people are ignorant. Just like Republicanism.

[BREMPRO]

2. that was an eye opener..not at all what i expected. thanks for the link! n/t

[Warpy]

3. Whoa! I wondered where some of those really screwball stories were coming from

and now I know.

It's very telling that he admits liberals won't take the bait--ever. Only right wingers foam at the mouth, never check a source, and swallow it all whole.

In the crackdown, what do you want to bet only news with a liberal bias gets attacked?

[oberliner]

4. Liberals fall for fake news stories as well

It happens to everyone.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. ORLY?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028304635

The money quote from the article: "We tried to do similar things to the liberals; it just never works, never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just fizzles out".

When liberals fall for a fake story, it usually turns out to be a parody site like The Onion, posting satire that is so close to the truth that it really is hard to tell (and occasionally anticipating actual news).

[oberliner]

7. That's one guy

And he is a self-identified liberal.

[ronnie624]

9. Thanks.

"Liberals" who promote the false equivalence between progressives and conservatives, are full of it.

[oberliner]

16. CNN accidentally airs 30 minutes of non-stop hardcore porn (hoax)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028304511

[Dem2]

12. I debunked several fake news sites on FB, but there is a percentage of liberals who are suseptible

as well - I'm just glad that we're better at self-policing than the right that rarely click-through to check the veracity of a story they're promoting.

[Warpy]

13. Thanks, if one person falls for it

somebody else will generally fact check it and tell him/her that it's bogus.

Right wingers never fact check and tend to call media and their politicians foaming at the mouth over total hogwash.

[tblue37]

14. Yep. Poe's Law makes it hard to identify satire sometimes. nt

[ThoughtCriminal]

19. Coler says his writers have tried to write fake news for liberals

— but they just never take the bait.

I'm sure there area few examples, but pretty much this is at least 98% right wing.

[oberliner]

20. There was a fake news story about CNN airing pornography for a half hour

It was posted yesterday (or the day before?) here on DU and people believed it.

[ThoughtCriminal]

21. There's your .01%

For every satire hoax story that gets posted here and believed for a while before debunking. there are hundreds of deliberately falsified stories that get re-tweeted, shared and widely circulated hundreds of thousands and even millions of times by right-wing conservatives. It's not a satire or hoax, it is propaganda.

They are the masters of the big lie. You are a master of false equivalence.

[oberliner]

22. I am just saying that lots of folks fall for fake news stories all the time

Right-wingers generally are more susceptible to those kinds of things, but I've seen it happen a lot among non right-wingers as well.

I don't think that makes me the master of false equivalence. That seems a tad over the top.

[JI7]

5. DU was full of fake shit coming from Russia for a long ass time

[ronnie624]

10. DU is not "full" of fake news.

What a steaming pile that is. Fake news doesn't last long here.

[JI7]

11. it was posted by Trolls. they finally put a stop to it but let it go on for too long

[oberliner]

18. Yes it is

Open your eyes.

[romana]

8. Fact check

I hope NPR fact-checked all his statements, because, really, he's about the last person on earth I'd trust to tell the truth about anything.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

[Hekate]

15. KnR