A false rumour spread by a dubious AI-powered website caught the attention of leading politicians.

A website founded by a former US Marine who now lives in Russia has fuelled a rumour that Volodymyr Zelensky purchased two luxury yachts with American aid money.

Despite the false claim, the disinformation plot was successful. It took off online and was echoed by members of the US Congress making crucial decisions about military spending.

It was an incredible assertion - using two advisers as proxies, Mr Zelensky paid $75m (£59m) for two yachts.

But not only has the Ukrainian government flatly denied the story, the two ships in question have not even been sold.

Despite being false, the story reached members of the US Congress, where leaders say any decision on further aid to Ukraine will be delayed until next year.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    A website founded by a former US Marine who now lives in Russia has fuelled a rumour that Volodymyr Zelensky purchased two luxury yachts with American aid money.

    While discussing budget priorities on a podcast hosted by former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Mr Vance said: "There are people who would cut Social Security, throw our grandparents into poverty, why?

    Mr Dougan spent three years as a deputy with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office, then after he left in 2009 he started a website spreading rumours about his former employers.

    He said he does not recall the person he sold it to and has lost the paperwork due to being kicked off payment platforms and losing access to email accounts because of financial sanctions against Russia.

    But the attention given to the country’s real and ongoing corruption issues has been mild compared to online chatter over false stories backed up by fake documents and shadowy social media accounts.

    BBC Verify and the Clemson researchers found a number of DC Weekly articles posted between August and December this year that followed the same pattern.

    The original article contains 1,490 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 88%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!