The People's Voice (website)
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Type of site | |
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| Available in | English |
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| Launched | 2014 |
| Current status | Active |
NewsPunch is a Los Angeles-based fake news website known for spreading conspiracy theories, political misinformation, and hoaxes.[1] Originally named Your News Wire,[5][11][12] it was founded in 2014 by Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway.[3][6][13] In November 2018, it rebranded itself as NewsPunch, and began redirecting yournewswire.com traffic to newspunch.com.[11] Your News Wire was revived as a separate website in November 2020, and has continued publishing hoaxes similar to those in NewsPunch.[14]
A 2017 BuzzFeed News report identified NewsPunch as being the second-largest source of popular fake stories spread on Facebook that year,[6] and a June 2018 Poynter analysis identified NewsPunch as being debunked over 80 times in 2017 and 2018 by Poynter-accredited factcheckers such as Snopes, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, and the Associated Press.[7]
The European Union's East StratCom Task Force has criticized NewsPunch for spreading Russian propaganda, a charge Adl-Tabatabai denies.[3]
Regular contributors to NewsPunch include Adl-Tabatabai, a former BBC and MTV employee from London previously an employee of conspiracy theorist David Icke,[15] Adl-Tabatabai's mother Carol Adl, an alternative health practitioner, and Baxter Dmitry, who had previously been posing as an unrelated Latvian man using a stolen profile photo.[16][17]
Fake news stories
NewsPunch has published false stories, including:
- Stories pushing the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory.[18][19] NewsPunch was one of the first sites to propagate the conspiracy theory, publishing a falsified story that was later used as a basis for Pizzagate's viral spread among the alt-right.[20]
- Claims that the 2017 Las Vegas shootings and Manchester Arena bombings were false flags.[21][22]
- Anti-vaccination hoaxes alleging that Bill Gates refused to vaccinate his children[23] and "admitted that vaccinations are designed so that governments can depopulate the world".[24]
- Claims that Hillary Clinton's popular vote victory in the 2016 United States Presidential election was the result of voter fraud.[25]
- Allegations that Clinton was responsible for Anthony Bourdain's suicide.[26]
- False claims that Justin Trudeau was the love child of Fidel Castro.[11]
See also
References
- ^ a b [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
- ^ Brown, Étienne (2 October 2018). "Propaganda, Misinformation, and the Epistemic Value of Democracy". Critical Review. 30 (3–4). Routledge: 194–218. doi:10.1080/08913811.2018.1575007. S2CID 151051037.
- ^ a b c Boswell, Josh (2017). "Mother churns out stories for master of fake news". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "Don't get fooled by these fake news sites". CBS News. 2017-02-10. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ a b "Websites that Post Fake and Satirical Stories - FactCheck.org". FactCheck.org. 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
- ^ a b c "These Are 50 Of The Biggest Fake News Hits On Facebook In 2017". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ a b "Fact-checkers have debunked this fake news site 80 times. It's still publishing on Facebook". Poynter. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "YourNewsWire.com's file". @politifact. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "No evidence Lisa Page blamed DNC hack on Chinese". @politifact. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
...Your News Wire which frequently publishes fake news...
- ^ "FACT CHECK: Did Melania Trump Ban White House Staff from Taking Flu Shot?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
...a consistent purveyor of fake news and political disinformation, YourNewsWIre[sic]...
- ^ a b c Frier, Sarah (2018-11-04). "Facebook Tamped Down on Hoax Sites, But Polarization Thrives". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
- ^ "FACT CHECK: Did a Starbucks Executive Say That 'White Men Are the Root of All Evil'?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
- ^ "L.A. Alt-Media Agitator (Not Breitbart) Clashes With Google, Snopes". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
- ^ Thalen, Mikael (23 November 2020). "Infamous conspiracy site returns to push hoax that George Soros was arrested for election fraud". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
- ^ Boswell, Josh (2017-01-29). "Mother churns out stories for master of fake news". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
After working as a television producer for the BBC and MTV, he took a job helping to run the conspiracy theory site of David Icke, a former BBC sports presenter who claims the world is secretly run by alien reptiles in disguise.
- ^ Boswell, Josh (2017). "Mother churns out stories for master of fake news". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
Another prolific writer on the site goes by the name of Baxter Dmitry. The photograph next to the author's name was in fact that of a Latvian computer programmer, who told The Sunday Times he was not Dmitry and his identity had been stolen.
- ^ "Sean Adl-Tabatabai on being in the eye of the 'fake news' storm | London Evening Standard". 2018-08-16. Archived from the original on 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "FBI: Pizzagate Arrests 'Imminent' In Washington Pedophile Ring Bust". Your News Wire (archived by archive.is). 2017-02-04. Archived from the original on 2017-02-04. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "FBI Insider: Clinton Emails Linked To Political Pedophile Sex Ring". Your News Wire (archived by archive.is). 2018-03-09. Archived from the original on 2018-03-09. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "How The Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Behind "Pizzagate" Was Spread". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "Debunking hoaxes, fake news about the Las Vegas massacre". PolitiFact. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "FACT CHECK: Was the Manchester Terror Attack a 'False Flag'?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "Website peddles false claim about Bill Gates, vaccinations". @politifact. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "FACT CHECK: Did Bill Gates Admit Vaccinations Are Designed So Governments Can Depopulate the World?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "FACT CHECK: Did a Study Determine 25 Million Fraudulent Votes Were Cast for Hillary Clinton?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
- ^ "Fake news faults Clintons for Bourdain's death". @politifact. Retrieved 2018-08-27.