Made and Distributed in the U.S.A.: Online Disinformation

By Sheera Frenkel
Oct. 11, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO — When Christine Blasey Ford testified before Congress last month about Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assault, a website called Right Wing News sprang into action on Facebook.

The conservative site, run by the blogger John Hawkins, had created a series of Facebook pages and accounts over the last year under many names, according to Facebook.

After Dr. Blasey testified, Right Wing News posted several false stories about her — including the suggestion that her lawyers were being bribed by Democrats — and then used the network of Facebook pages and accounts to share the pieces so that they proliferated online quickly, social media researchers said.

The result was a real-time spreading of disinformation started by Americans, for Americans.

Read more at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/technology/fake-news-online-disinformation.html?emc=edit_na_20181011&nl=breaking-news&nlid=60114417ing-news&ref=cta