Quick thread on the fake story that the UK's first volunteer to test a covid-19 vaccine had died.
The site it came from is ad-laden clickbait with an apparently Macedonian connection.
H/t @BBCFergusWalsh and @FullFact for the early work on this.
fullfact.org/online/elisa-g…
The site it came from is ad-laden clickbait with an apparently Macedonian connection.
H/t @BBCFergusWalsh and @FullFact for the early work on this.
fullfact.org/online/elisa-g…
The site is n5ti[.]com. It was only registered in March this year, and its early stories are all "Lorem ipsum" placefillers with copied headlines and a load of ads.
Someone trying to make it look like it has a posting history, but not trying too hard?
Someone trying to make it look like it has a posting history, but not trying too hard?
Later posts copy-pasted content from real news outlets, including @BBCWorld, @dwnews and @LeedsNews.
Then come the original posts. Sensational fake stories about Covid-19 victims.
Do us all a favour and don't click on them. That's falling for the clickbait.
Archive links here:
web.archive.org/web/2020042615…
web.archive.org/web/2020042808…
Do us all a favour and don't click on them. That's falling for the clickbait.
Archive links here:
web.archive.org/web/2020042615…
web.archive.org/web/2020042808…
The use of language is clumsy and unidiomatic, and doesn't read like it was written by a native English speaker.
"Awaiting for an autopsy"?
"The Elisa"??
"Awaiting for an autopsy"?
"The Elisa"??
So it looks like a site that was set up to make ad revenue from fake stories. The original concept of "fake news," before the term was rendered meaningless.
The domain registration was privacy protected, so no help there, but...
The domain registration was privacy protected, so no help there, but...
... the website was set up with an embedded Google Analytics code, UA-27425902.
Per BuiltWith, only one other website ever used that: a Macedonian lifestyle site, teamoderna[.]com[.]mk.
Per BuiltWith, only one other website ever used that: a Macedonian lifestyle site, teamoderna[.]com[.]mk.
That's not the only Macedonian angle to this.
As of this morning, there were three translations of the fake Covid-19 story on the site: Spanish, Italian, and Macedonian.
As of this morning, there were three translations of the fake Covid-19 story on the site: Spanish, Italian, and Macedonian.
In fairness, it should be noted that the site also ran stories in Vietnamese, so there's more digging to be done here for those who have bandwidth.
But the Macedonian angle would be a good place to start, given the history of clickbait fakes from there.
But the Macedonian angle would be a good place to start, given the history of clickbait fakes from there.
The same site was pushing another big fake earlier this month, saying that 21 million in China had died of the virus.
web.archive.org/web/2020042809…
web.archive.org/web/2020042809…
The thing is, fake stories like this do get clicks. The "21 million victims" and "dead volunteer" stories netted the faker over 90,000 clicks.
If you're reporting on this, please use archive links, not the original.
If you're reporting on this, please use archive links, not the original.
So there we have it. Clickbait website, shared analytics with a Macedonian site, fake stories, loads of ads.
Fakers jump on any story they think will get clicks. Coronavirus is no exception.
Fakers jump on any story they think will get clicks. Coronavirus is no exception.
