Bait &Amp; Switch

Did conservative political provocateur Dinesh D'Souza die at the age of 58? No, that's not true: D'Souza is alive, and an article suggesting otherwise is just the latest in a long line of celebrity death hoaxes to take the Internet by storm. The claim most recently appeared in an article (archived here) published by environmentdepth.org on November 11, 2019, under…

Has the actor who played bionic man Steve Austin died and left $6 million to the Trump reelection campaign? No, that's not true: The former "Six Million Dollar Man" has not died and donated the amount that was used to "rebuild him" with bionic parts on the iconic 1970s television show. The story is a work of fiction and originated…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin ban all Microsoft products from Russia? No, that's not true: a 2016 article was reposted to Facebook by website that has a reputation for making up unsubstantiated claims in its headlines that are not backed by the content of the articles it links to. The story originated from an article (archived here) on NewsPunch where…

Tara, Jesica, Ana, Lora: since a few weeks dozens of trolls on Twitter are dangling bait in front of American Trump supporters. Their goal: bring in as many clicks as possible for two commercial, (potentially Serbian) anti-islam websites. And it is working: in twelve days they reached a potential audience on Facebook of 3.8 milion users. Lead Stories went troll…