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Russian Network Spread Fake News on BuzzFeed’s Community Site

The Russian accounts responsible for spreading fake news on the site are connected to the leak of U.S. and U.K. trade documents on Reddit.

A network of social-media accounts responsible for leaking U.S. and U.K. trade documents have also spread fake news stories and conspiracy theories online using the community section of BuzzFeed, according to a BBC investigation. Web analysis firm Graphika confirmed on Tuesday that it identified 44 false stories published by the Russian network between October 2016 and October 2019. The community section of BuzzFeed is written by unpaid volunteers and is completely separate from BuzzFeed News. Many posts in the section are accompanied with the disclaimer, “This post has not been vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed’s editorial staff.” 

BBC found several accounts linked to the Russian disinformation campaign, and one example showed the same fake news post appeared on Reddit and then BuzzFeed community minutes later. BuzzFeed and Quora—another site infiltrated by Russian accounts—removed posts after they were informed of the matter by BBC. The news site said in response to the Russian activity in its community section, “We have zero tolerance for posts that violate our guidelines—which prohibit ‘deceptive’ and ‘fraudulent’ posts.”