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Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Macedonia, Fake News, and the US Presidential Election
There were a number of news articles were posted prior to the US Presidential Election in late October and early November, highlighting the role of teens in the Macedonian town of Veles and their creation of fake news websites.
I must confess that I had not expected this role that teens from Veles would play in the 2016 general election in the US.
I look forward to discussing this with my students in Macedonia.
“This is the news of the millennium!” said the story
on WorldPoliticus.com. Citing unnamed FBI sources, it claimed Hillary
Clinton will be indicted in 2017 for crimes related to her email
scandal.
“Your Prayers Have Been Answered,” declared the headline.
For
Trump supporters, that certainly seemed to be the case. They helped the
baseless story generate over 140,000 shares, reactions, and comments on
Facebook.
Meanwhile, roughly 6,000 miles away in a small town in
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, a young man watched as money
began trickling into his Google AdSense account.
Over the past
year, the Macedonian town of Veles (population 45,000) has experienced a
digital gold rush as locals launched at least 140 US politics websites.
These sites have American-sounding domain names such as
WorldPoliticus.com, TrumpVision365.com, USConservativeToday.com,
DonaldTrumpNews.co, and USADailyPolitics.com. They almost all publish
aggressively pro-Trump content aimed at conservatives and Trump
supporters in the US.
The young Macedonians who run these sites
say they don’t care about Donald Trump. They are responding to
straightforward economic incentives: As Facebook regularly reveals in earnings reports,
a US Facebook user is worth about four times a user outside the US. The
fraction-of-a-penny-per-click of US display advertising — a declining
market for American publishers — goes a long way in Veles. Several teens
and young men who run these sites told BuzzFeed News that they learned
the best way to generate traffic is to get their politics stories to
spread on Facebook — and the best way to generate shares on Facebook is
to publish sensationalist and often false content that caters to Trump
supporters.
As a result, this strange hub of pro-Trump sites in
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is now playing a significant
role in propagating the kind of false and misleading content that was
identified in a recent BuzzFeed News analysis
of hyperpartisan Facebook pages. These sites open a window into the
economic incentives behind producing misinformation specifically for the
wealthiest advertising markets and specifically for Facebook, the
world’s largest social network, as well as within online advertising
networks such as Google AdSense.
“Yes, the info in the blogs is
bad, false, and misleading but the rationale is that ‘if it gets the
people to click on it and engage, then use it,’” said a university
student in Veles who started a US politics site, and who agreed to speak
on the condition that BuzzFeed News not use his name.
Sample stories from US politics sites run by Macedonians.
Using domain name registration records and online searches, BuzzFeed
News identified over 100 active US politics websites being run from
Veles. The largest of these sites have Facebook pages that boast hundreds of thousands of followers.
BuzzFeed News also identified another 40 US politics domains registered by people in Veles that are no longer active. (An April report from the Macedonian website Meta.mk identified six pro-Trump sites being run from Veles. A Guardian report identified 150 politics sites.)
Their reasons for launching these sites are purely financial, according to the Macedonians with whom BuzzFeed News spoke.
“I started the site for a easy way to make money,” said a 17-year-old who runs a site
with four other people. “In Macedonia the economy is very weak and
teenagers are not allowed to work, so we need to find creative ways to
make some money. I’m a musician but I can’t afford music gear. Here in
Macedonia the revenue from a small site is enough to afford many
things.”
Most of the posts on these sites are aggregated, or
completely plagiarized, from fringe and right-wing sites in the US. The
Macedonians see a story elsewhere, write a sensationalized headline, and
quickly post it to their site. Then they share it on Facebook to try
and generate traffic. The more people who click through from Facebook,
the more money they earn from ads on their website.
Earlier in the year, some in Veles experimented with left-leaning or pro–Bernie Sanders content, but nothing performed as well on Facebook as Trump content.
“People in America prefer to read news about Trump,” said a Macedonian 16-year-old who operates BVANews.com.
BuzzFeed News’ research also found that the most successful stories from these sites were nearly all false or misleading.
For
example, the most successful post BuzzFeed News found from a Macedonian
site is based on a story from a fake news website. The headline on the story from ConservativeState.com
was “Hillary Clinton In 2013: ‘I Would Like To See People Like Donald
Trump Run For Office; They’re Honest And Can’t Be Bought.’” The post is a
week old and has racked up an astounding 480,000 shares, reactions, and
comments on Facebook. (To put that into perspective, the New York Times’ exclusive story
that revealed Donald Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995
income tax returns generated a little more than 175,000 Facebook
interactions in a month.)
The viral Clinton story was sourced from TheRightists.com, a site that admits it publishes both real and fake content. According to emails released by WikiLeaks, Clinton said
in a private speech to Goldman Sachs that she would like to see more
successful business people enter politics. But she did not mention
Donald Trump in any way. The quote used in the headline is false.
The original hoax from The Rightists. The Rightists
Four of the five most successful posts from the Macedonian sites BuzzFeed News identified are false. They include the false claim that the pope endorsed Trump, and the false claim
that Mike Pence said Michelle Obama is the “most vulgar first lady
we’ve ever had.” Those four posts together generated more than 1 million
shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. That resulted in huge
traffic and significant ad revenue for the owners of these sites, with
many people being misinformed along the way.
The Macedonians
BuzzFeed News spoke to said the explosion in pro-Trump sites in Veles
means the market has now become crowded, making it harder to earn money.
The people who launched their sites early in 2016 are making the most
money, according to the university student. He said a friend of his
earns $5,000 per month, “or even $3,000 per day” when he gets a hit on
Facebook.
The 16-year-old who operates BVANews.com
with a partner said he also runs health websites in addition to the US
politics site. They launched the site in early 2016 and it’s now
averaging 1 million page views a month, said his partner. (The teens
declined to share revenue figures.)
The 17-year-old and his
three partners are still waiting for Google’s AdSense program to approve
their site for ads. As of now, they’re only generating about 800 views a
day and aren’t earning any revenue. The university student launched his
site in August and stopped updating it in order to focus on another,
more successful site he has that’s focused on health and well-being. He
estimated there are “thousands” of health-related sites being run out of
Veles. US politics is just this year’s opportunity, thanks to a
combination of Trump and Facebook.
“I stopped because I didn’t
really enjoy doing it and we didn’t actually make any money from it
since there are so many people posting already,” the university student
said. “The people who started early are the ones reaping the rewards.”
Aside from the allure of easy money, they also have an element of
pride that web-savvy people — including teenagers — in a small country
like Macedonia can earn money by gaming Facebook, Google, and Americans.
“A good chunk of the world thinks Macedonia is primitive, but that is not true,” the 17-year-old said.
The
young men running these sites know the Trump traffic bonanza will soon
come to an end. They expect traffic and revenue to decline significantly
once the election is over. But they also hold out hope that a Trump win
will keep their sites afloat.
“If Trump loses I plan to redirect
my site to sports,” the 16-year-old’s partner said. “It means that there
will be no more politics [worth covering].”
Craig Silverman is Media Editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in Toronto.
The
young man sitting in the cafe looks barely more than a boy - he hasn't
shaved for a few days, yet he's a long way off achieving designer
stubble. The hair on his chin and cheeks is still soft and his smart
navy blazer and clean white shirt make him look as if he's in school
uniform.
It's not the image that 19-year-old university student,
Goran, sitting far back in his chair with one leg crossed over the other
wants to portray.
"The Americans loved our stories and we make
money from them," he boasts, making sure I see the designer watch he's
fiddling with. "Who cares if they are true or false?" Image copyrightAlamyGoran - not his real name by the way, he's not
confident enough to reveal that - is one of scores, or probably hundreds
of Macedonian teenagers who are behind a cottage industry in the small
city of Veles which churned out fake pro-Trump news during the US
election campaign.
Goran began putting up sensationalist stories, usually plagiarised from right-wing American sites, last summer. Image caption
The digital gold rush has prompted a consumerist boom in Veles
After copying and pasting various articles, he
packaged them under a catchy new headline, paid Facebook to share it
with a target US audience hungry for Trump news and then when those
Americans clicked on his stories and began to like and share them, he
began earning revenue from advertising on the site.
Goran says he
worked on the fakery for only a month and earned about 1,800 euros
(£1,500) - but his mates, he claims, have been earning thousands of
euros a day. When I ask him if he worries that his false news might have
unfairly influenced voters in America, he scoffs.
"Teenagers in
our city don't care how Americans vote," he laughs. "They are only
satisfied that they make money and can buy expensive clothes and
drinks!" Image caption
Some students admit to working most of the evening on fake news before going to school
The digital gold rush has certainly provided a
welcome boom for Veles where the average salary is just 350 euros a
month; as we drive into the city, I notice some very new and very smart
cars while the down-at-heel bars are full of excited young men drinking
fancy cocktails. When it was part of the former Yugoslavia, this city
was called Titov Veles after the Yugoslavian President Josip Tito -
today I'm told it's been jokingly rechristened Trump Veles.
Outside
the school gates, every third sixth former admits to knowing someone
involved on the sites or to running one of their own. One boy whose face
is the unhealthy colour and texture of porridge tells me he works eight
hours every night on his fake news and then comes to school.
The
peddling of false news on lookalike American news sites is not illegal
but there's something a little underhand and dirty about the whole game
of misleading readers. Image caption
There's no dirty money in Veles, insists the mayor, Slavco Chediev
Ironically, it's open day at the town hall - so I
get to meet the right-wing mayor, Slavco Chediev, who points his finger
at me crossly. "There's no dirty money in Veles," he insists, before
adding curiously that he's rather proud if the entrepreneurs of his tiny
little city, thousands of miles from the US, have in any way influenced
the outcome of the American election.
Ubavka Janevska, a senior
investigative journalist with her own news website, chokes when I
recount this story to her although I'm not sure she isn't just
struggling to breathe through the acrid fog of cigarette smoke which
permeates her office and makes my contact lenses crimp and shrivel on my
eyeballs.
She tells me that she's identified seven separate
teams peddling misinformation online -and she estimates there are also
hundreds of school children working individually. Image caption
Ubavka Janevska suggests the fake news phenomenon could affect Macedonia's own election
"I worry for young people's morality in Veles," she
tells me. "Since the US elections, all they think about is lies and
making a fast buck from lies." She fumbles with her cigarette packet.
"We have parliamentary elections here in Macedonia in December," she
adds. "And I have traced three false domains registered in Serbia or
Croatia. Those sites are already putting out lies about the opposition
party which could really damage the campaign."
Goran insists he's
given up fake news now - although he does let slip he's just bought a
rather smart laptop. As we drop him off at his parents' house I ask him
what his mum would make of his dodgy online activities. He looks at me
as if I'm nuts.
"Do you think if your kid had made 30,000 euros a
month you'd make a problem?" he asks incredulously. "Come on! You'd be
so happy... you'd be... " he searches for his words.
"Made up?" I offer.
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