Thursday, January 12, 2017

Fake News: List of fake news websites

Bad news

List of fake news websites

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This is a list of websites that have been called fake news sites. These sites intentionally publish hoaxes and disinformation to drive web traffic rather than for a humorous purpose, as in news satire. This list also excludes sites that promote conspiracy theories based on apparently genuine belief (as opposed to a conscious intent to misinform or to gather web traffic).

Some of these sites use a URL that ends in .co or otherwise resembling genuine news site.

Fake news websites deliberately publish hoaxes and disinformation to drive web traffic inflamed by social media. These sites are distinguished from news satire (which is humorous) as they mislead and profit from readers' gullibility. While most fake news sites are portrayed to be spin offs of other news sites, some of these websites are examples of website spoofing, structured to make visitors believe they are visiting trusted sources like ABC News or MSNBC. The New York Times pointed out that within a strict definition, "fake news" on the Internet referred to a fictitious article which was fabricated with the deliberate motivation to defraud readers, generally with the goal of profiting through clickbait. PolitiFact described fake news as fabricated content designed to fool readers and subsequently made viral through the Internet to crowds that increase its dissemination.

The New York Times noted in a December 2016 article that fake news had previously maintained a presence on the Internet and within tabloid journalism in the years prior to the 2016 U.S. election. Prior to the election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, fake news had not impacted the election process and subsequent events to such a high degree. Subsequent to the 2016 U.S. election, the issue of fake news turned into a political weapon, with supporters of left-wing politics saying those on the opposite side of the spectrum spread falsehoods, and supporters of right-wing politics arguing such accusations were merely a way to censor conservative views. Due to these back-and-forth complaints, the definition of fake news as used for such polemics became more vague.


List of fake news sites[edit]

Name!NotesSources
ABCnews.com.coOwned by Jestin Coler. Mimics the URL, design and logo of ABC News.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
Bloomberg.maDesigned to imitate Bloomberg.com. Was used to issue a false report announcing that Twitter had received a USD $31 billion takeover offer, the false report resulted in an 8% stock price spike of Twitter. Site now defunct.[15][16]
DrudgeReport.com.coOwned by Jestin Coler (mimics the name of the Drudge Report).[9][14]
MSNBC.com.co[9]
MSNBC.website[9]
usatoday.com.coOwned by Jestin Coler.[14]
washingtonpost.com.coOriginally registered by Jestin Coler[14][17]
CelebtricityHas claimed that:
*President Obama declared a state of emergency in Chicago after more than 300 people were shot in one night.
*That an employee at a Wendy's put vaginal discharge on a burger as revenge against a partner.
*Bryshere Y. Gray is Jay-Z's son.
[18][19][20]
Cream BMP[9]
Empire NewsMany of this website's fake news hoaxes were widely shared on social media, with stories based off social or political controversies, or were simply appalling to readers.[9][10][21]
Empire Sports[22]
The Enduring Vision[9]
Firebrand LeftOwned by Jestin Coler.[14]
Global Associated News[22]
HuzlersFake news from this website often involve popular restaurants and brands to disgust readers with its gross-out stories. One story by the site falsely reported that Dong Nguyen, the creator of Flappy Bird, killed himself. Another story made up an incident where a person working at a McDonald's restaurant put his mixtapes in Happy Meals.[21][22][23][24]
Indecision ForeverA fake news site owned by Comedy Central.[9]
KMT 11 NewsFalsely reports celebrity appearances and filming locations in random local towns.[25][26][27]
National ReportFounder Jestin Coler told Columbia Journalism Review "When it comes to the fake stuff, you really want it to be red meat. [...] It doesn’t have to be offensive. It doesn’t have to be outrageous. It doesn’t have to be anything other than just giving them what they already wanted to hear."[9][10][14][21]
News Biscuit[9]
Newslo[9][28]
News Mutiny[9]
React 365This user-created fake news generator, supposedly for "pranking your friends", had at least two stories that went viral.[21]
Rile News[9]
StuppidThis fake news purveyor specializes in articles with stories that are morally offensive.[21]
The Boston TribuneStarting in February 2016, this website's outright hoaxes quickly became popular with its readers.[21]
The News Nerd[22]
World News Daily ReportHas often published many hoaxes that are mistaken for being true, with topics ranging from religion, science, and political conspiracy.[10][21][29][30]
Conservative FrontlineOwned by Jestin Coler.[14]
Denver GuardianOwned by Jestin Coler.[14]
International ReportOwned by Jestin Coler.[14]
Naha DailyThis fake news website is now defunct, and was active in a span of five months with popular fake news articles, including a fake quote by Michael Kors.[21]
News Hound[9][22]
United Media PublishingOwned by Jestin Coler.[14]
InfoWarsManaged by Alex Jones. Has previously claimed that millions of people have voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election, that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, and that the Democratic Party was hosting a child sex slave ring out of a pizza restaurant.
Natural NewsFormerly NewsTarget, a website for the sale of various dietary supplements, promotion of alternative medicine, controversial nutrition and health claims, and various conspiracy theories, such as "chemtrails", chemophobic claims (including the purported dangers of fluoride in drinking water, anti-perspirants, laundry detergent, monosodium glutamate, aspartame), and purported health problems caused by allegedly "toxic" ingredients in vaccines, including the now-discredited link to autism.[28][39][39][40][41][42]
PrntlyA politically conservative news site described by Snopes as "a disreputable outlet that has a penchant for publishing both fake news and spurious pro-Trump articles."[43][44]
Red Flag News[28]
70 Newsa Wordpress-hosted site that published a false news story, stating that Donald Trump had won the popular vote in the 2016 United States presidential election; the fake story rose to the top in searches for "final election results" on Google News[9][45][46]
Activist Post[28]
American NewsPublished a false story claiming actor Denzel Washington endorsed Donald Trump for president. The fictional headline led to thousands of people sharing it on Facebook, a prominent example of fake news spreading on the social network prior to the 2016 presidential election.[9][28][47][48]
Before It's NewsCited by US President-elect Donald J. Trump at his 2016 campaign rallies. Before Its News and Infowars were described as "unabashedly unhinged 'news' sites" in 2014 by the Washington Post following its promotion of conspiracy theories relation to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.[28][49][50]
Civic Tribune[9]
Daily Buzz Live[28]
DC Gazette[9][28]
Disclose TV[28]
Empire HeraldStarting in January 2016, this fake news site had spread many of its hoaxes online in just a few weeks.[21]
Liberty Writers NewsEstablished in 2015 by Paris Wade and Ben Goldman, who told the Washington Post their stories focus on "violence and chaos and aggressive wording" to attract readers. The stories reflect the positions of supporters of Donald Trump.[51][52][52]
Media Mass[9][22]
News ExaminerStarted in 2015 by Paul Horner, the lead writer of the National Report. This website has been known to mix real news along with its fake news.[21]
News Breaks Here[53]
The News Buzz DailyThis fake news website mostly consists of celebrity gossip and death hoaxes, but a few of its other stories became popular on social media.[21]
NewsWatch33Starting in April 2015 under the name NewsWatch28 and later becoming NewsWatch33, the website disguises itself as a local television outlet. It has also been known to mix real news along with its fake news in an attempt to circumvent Facebook’s crackdown on them.[21]
Now 8 NewsStarting in 2015, this fake news website is also designed to look like a local television outlet. A lot of hoaxes were successfully spread on social media.[21][54]
Real News Right Now[9]
The ReporterzStarting in early 2016, this fake news website penned several different hoaxes, including one about a murder over a Twitter trend.[21]
World Truth TV[28]



The hot new thing in the world of media is websites that are completely bogus. 

Facebook, a primary driver of traffic to publications, has come under fire for allowing the promotion of fake news websites and sites that deal in conspiracy theories rather than facts. Some Facebook employees even reportedly revolted and took matters into their own hands.

Many have questioned whether the rise of fake news contributed to the election victory of President-elect Donald Trump, and both Facebook and Google have responded by cutting these sites out of their advertising networks and otherwise making their stories harder to find. And PolitiFact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking site, has launched a new section devoted to fake news.

But those sites are still out there, and someone on your Facebook friend's list is probably sharing one of their stories right now. If you want to check out whether a story is from a dubious source yourself, you can use one of these three Google Chrome plugins.

For a quick look at sites that publish suspicious stories that may confuse readers, Melissa Zimdars, a media professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, compiled a list of “fake, false, or regularly misleading websites” that purposefully publish fake information or are otherwise entirely unreliable. The list, which has since been removed due to threats and harassment Zimdars says she received, also included sites that “may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information” or “sometimes use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions.”

The list included both left- and right-wing publications, and it is regularly updated or amended. Here is how Zimdars has categorized them:

“CATEGORY 1: Below is a list of fake, false, or regularly misleading websites that are shared on Facebook and social media. Some of these websites may rely on “outrage” by using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits. These websites are categorized with the number 1 next to them.

“CATEGORY 2: Some websites on this list may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information, and they are marked with a 2.

“CATEGORY 3: Other websites on this list sometimes use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions, and they are marked with a 3.

“CATEGORY 4: Other sources on this list are purposefully fake with the intent of satire/comedy, which can offer important critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news. I’m including them here, for now, because 1.) they have the potential to perpetuate misinformation based on different audience (mis)interpretations and 2.) to make sure anyone who reads a story by The Onion, for example, understands its purpose. If you think this is unnecessary, please see Literally Unbelievable.”

Below is the complete list, which Zimdars originally published under a Creative Commons license that allows publishers to freely reprint the list. Keep in mind: Not all of these sites are intentionally spreading fake news, so pay attention to the rating.

Here are all the 'fake news' sites to watch out for on Facebook

100PercentFedUp.com (2,3)
EnduringVision.com (1)
21stCenturyWire.com (2, 3)
70news.wordpress.com (1)
The Free Thought Project (3)
Abcnews.com.co (1)
Politicalo (1)
ActivistPost.com (2, 3)
Addicting Info (3)
AmericanNews.com (1)
AnonNews.co (3)
Private-eye.co.uk (includes 4)
Huzlers (4)
Indecision Forever (1)
RealNewsRightNow.com (1, 4)
Bipartisan Report (3)
Infowars.com (1, 2)
Red State (3)
Blue Nation Review (2,3)
Reductress (4)
Breitbart (2, 3)
RileNews.com (1, 4)
Call the Cops (4)
Cap News  (4)
Sportspickle.com (4)
ChristWire.org (4)
The Free Thought Project (3)
CivicTribune.com (1)
Borowitz Report (4)
ClickHole.com (4)
The Onion (4)
CoastToCoastAM.com (2)
The Other 98% (3)
CollectiveEvolution (3)
MediaMass.net (1)
ConsciousLifeNews.com (2)
MegynKelly.us (1)
ConservativeOutfitters.com (2)
MSNBC.com.co (1)
ConspiracyWire (WideAwakeAmerica.com) (2)
MSNBC.website (1)
CountdownToZeroTime.com (2)
Naha Daily (4)
NationalReport.net (4*)
CreamBMP.com (1)
NaturalNews.com
Twitchy.com (3)
News-Hound.com (1)
NewsBiscuit.com (1)
US Uncut (3)
DCGazette.com (1)
Newslo (1, 4)
NewsMutiny.com (1, 4)
DrudgeReport.com.co (1)
DuffleBlog.com (4)
World News Daily Report (4)
Empire News (1)
Occupy Democrats (3)

In addition to the list, Zimdars has created a tip sheet for news consumers so that we all might better decipher what's real, what's fake, and what's simply misleading in ways that have nothing to do with whether you agree with a particular article or not:

*Avoid websites that end in “lo” ex: Newslo (above). These sites take pieces of accurate information and then packaging that information with other false or misleading “facts” (sometimes for the purposes of satire or comedy).

*Watch out for websites that end in “.com.co” as they are often fake versions of real news sources  

*Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. Sometimes lack of coverage is the result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be more than one source reporting on a topic or event.

*Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.

*Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.

*Some news organizations are also letting bloggers post under the banner of particular news brands; however, many of these posts do not go through the same editing process (ex: BuzzFeed Community Posts, Kinja blogs, Forbes blogs).

*Check the “About Us” tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information about the source.

*Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can also be a sign that the source you’re looking at should be verified and/or read in conjunction with other sources.

*If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to make you angry (with potentially misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.

*It’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames. Some sources not yet included in this list (although their practices at times may qualify them for addition), such as The Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, and Fox News, vacillate between providing important, legitimate, problematic, and/or hyperbolic news coverage, requiring readers and viewers to verify and contextualize information with other sources. 


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