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After the sinking of the Lusitania, Sen. Robert La Follette claimed that the ship had actually been carrying large amounts of ammunition for the UK govt. The US & UK govts claimed this was false-even though both knew it wasn’t-& their respective medias dutifully repeated the lie.
A campaign (ultimately unsuccessful) was launched to remove La Follette from the Senate, & a big part of their charges was that he’d been spreading what would in today’s Orwellian lingo be called #misinformation.
Just a few years after the war ended, a New York customs official claimed the ship had in fact been carrying a large amount of ammo. Divers on the wreck in 2008 proved the customs official & La Follette were correct, & that the US & UK govts & press had knowingly lied at the time
