The stories were then pushed out to the world through sharing on social media and other websites – often Russian – following up on the article. Nimmo said fakers had shown progress in recent months from the attempt to mimic Le Soir earlier this year, which had a “substantially different” URL. Creating fake foreign articles and then seeing them followed up by domestic news providers is a propaganda technique that Russia is accused of using before. Because the fake articles are published on doppelganger websites rather than through hacks of the original site they are difficult, if not impossible, for media organisations to stop. “With any fake all it takes is for one genuine outlet to broadcast and you have laundered the narrative,” Nimmo said.

Source: The Guardian August 18, 2017 15:17 UTC