Sources for Fake News, Misinformation, Disinformation Re: Article Below

Fake News Experts: Sending and Pushing

(Central Theme: Just “Follow the Money”)

Seeing is Believing Just Ask “Honest Abe”

In my view, the #1 generator of the turmoil we see, hear, and read about today all over the place is none other than Stephen Bannon, the man at Trump’s elbow and ear. Time will or will not prove me correct or not. But right now the case in point is this story and as they say: A biggie from Media Matters.

THE STORY IN A NUTSHELL: A false claim posted on 4chan that a Redditor who created an anti-CNN GIF (of Trump punching the network’s logo), and who was tracked down by CNN, was just 15 years old made its way to Donald Trump Jr. and on Fox News within 12 hours. 

Note: Reddit policy statement: “Anyone can create a community on nearly any topic imaginable. Each community is independently moderated by volunteer users. Community members can share content including stories, links, and images.”

Now some truth, if that’s even possible in this day and age of so much not just “fake news” but BS news and sadly, hardcore Trump loyalists cling to and apparently believe every word of it – just listen to them on Talk Radio and at various forums – that is the most damaging.

According to CNN and the reporter who helped identify the Reddit user proved that the man is actually middle aged.

The fact that the claim made to smear CNN for attacking a teenager was able to spread so quickly exemplifies how misinformation from fringe sources can make its way through the “alt-right/fake news” ecosystem and to outlets with a broader reach, such as Fox News in hours if no mere minutes.

Timeline to Show and Hopefully Prove How this BS Wildfire Story Spread:

On July 2, President Trump tweeted a video showing himself wrestling and punching a man with the CNN logo superimposed on his face. The video started as a GIF posted on the Reddit forum (at “The_Donald” from user with moniker HanAssholeSolo). It was later turned into a video with music, which is the version Trump then tweeted. The Reddit user later expressed glee that his GIF had been tweeted by the president. 

On July 4, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski reported that CNN had identified the man but was “not publishing his name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology…and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again.” CNN then added: “CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.”

After that: CNN and Kaczynski received a flurry of criticism, “simultaneously drawing accusations of going soft and issuing a threat,” as The Washington Post’s Callum Borchers wrote. However, among the list of accusations made by online trolls and figures affiliated with the “alt-right” was that CNN had threatened and blackmailed a 15-year-old.

Responding to the allegation, CNN’s Kaczynski tweeted, “HanAssholeSolo is a middle aged man. People claiming he’s 15 are wrong. Some are intentionally spreading this.”

(Note: Business Insider reported that the user had “claimed to be 37 years old in another post.”)

The original claim seems to have first appeared right before midnight on July 4, when a user on the alt-right-affiliated 4chan forum /pol/ claimed that: “the tough guys over at CNN doxed a 15 year old kid.” (Dox def: To out someone, to track them down and reveal who they are publicly).

Within an hour, in the early hours of July 5 Twitter user Kaiser Willy tweeted a photo of the 4chan user’s post, writing, “Potentially huge development in #CNNBlackmail Reddit user is believed to only be 15.”

A couple of hours later neo-Nazi and “alt-right” website The Daily Stormer pointed to Willy's tweet to push the claim, adding that CNN “must be made to taste their own medicine.”

Shortly after 1 am  alt-right personality Rick Vaughn tweeted a photo of a 4chan post of supposed CNN advertisers, writing, “Would be a shame if we make this List of @CNN 's Advertisers a lot shorter after CNN blackmailed a 15 year-old... #CNNBlackmail.”

Then alt-right-affiliated Lucian Wintrich of The Gateway Pundit tweeted, “@CNN pushes propaganda for 1/2 a year, Trump calls them out, they threaten to dox a 15 year old, now #CNNBlackmail is trending. Happy 4th!”

Then Mike Cernovich, an online troll who dwells in the alternative media sphere, retweeted both Vaughn and Wintrich’s tweets. The claim then spread to Reddit’s r/The_Donald, with users highlighting the original 4chan post.

Shortly after that alt-right figure Jack Posobiec tweeted, “I can confirm Reddit user HanAHoloSolo is 15 and is an LGBT Trump supporter.”

Then Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars, also an alt-right figure, tweeted, “The poor kid that CNN threatened to dox is reportedly only 15 years old. #CNNBlackmail.”

At around 7 am, fake news purveyor TruthFeed published a post, claiming, “Many are saying that the Reddit user is actually a 15-year-old kid, which looks even worse for CNN.”

Then not long after that Donald Trump Jr., who regularly pushes fringe claims, tweeted, “So I guess they weren't effective threatening the admin so they go after & bully a 15 y/o?”

By 9:00 am the lie had made its way to Fox News, as frequent Fox News guest Dan Bongino said CNN “outed a 15-year-old” and added “CNN should find sources for its Trump/Russia stories before they out a bunch of teenagers playing their Xbox, making giphys you don’t like.”

In response, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade said that CNN “made the kid apologize” and noted “that the internet was going to bat for the 15-year-old.”

UPDATE: During Fox News’ Fox News Specialists at 5:00 p.m. on July 5, host Eric Bolling repeated the lie, claiming the person being “threatened by CNN” was “a young kid.”

Conclusion: The evolution and dissemination of this claim shows an alarming trend of how “fake news and misinformation” can go from the fringe of the internet to Fox News within a short period of time. Further, the speed with which this falsehood spread demonstrates the dangers of the alt-right/fake news ecosystem, which has helped 4chan to attempt to impact a foreign election campaign and which regularly pushes conspiracy theories and falsities. And we all know how Mr. Trump loves that stuff and that brings me back to the lead sentence: Bannon is behind it – believe – and that is my hunch, not “fake hunch” – but one based a lot of years of experience… what about you?

So for all you DEM/Left/Obama, MSM haters let me ask you a simple question: Where is the outrage about the above “fake news/BS news/outright lies” – um? What cat got your tongue? Thought so. Pathetic isn’t it – which one side to the other and then back again … truth and fact are both lost in this and perhaps forever – so who can we trust and believe? That seems to be out the frigging window doesn’t it? Thanks for stopping by.