8 Nov 2017 11:31 pm
I don't know why anyone would pay any attention to that asshole Alex Jones anyway.InfoWars Has Republished More Than 1,000 Articles From RT Without Permission
Over the past three years, conspiracy site InfoWars has copied more than 1,000 articles produced by Russian state-sponsored broadcaster RT to its website — all without the permission of RT.
According to data from social sharing tracking website BuzzSumo, there were at least 1,014 RT articles republished on InfoWars since May of 2014.
The articles appeared on InfoWars with a byline credit to RT, but a spokesperson for the Russian broadcaster told BuzzFeed News that InfoWars did not have permission to re-publish its content.
RT is not the only outlet InfoWars copied content from.
A search on BuzzSumo shows there are articles copied from CNN, Sputnik, Breitbart, CNS News, the Blaze, CBC, BBC, Vice, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New York Post, LA Times, BuzzFeed, and others.
RT’s articles, however, seem to be the most numerous.
After being informed of InfoWars's rampant reprinting of RT stories, Anna Belkina, the head of communications for RT, wouldn't say whether her employer will take action against InfoWars.
"We take under consideration any use of our content without authorisation, and proceed with any action we deem appropriate.
We do this on a case-by-case basis, dependent on the resources we have available at the time," she said.
The subjects of the copied stories range from global politics to terror attacks to news hits about e-cigarettes and fake Canadian gold bars.
Many deal with US politics.
InfoWars is headed by radio host Alex Jones who propagated the false Pizzagate conspiracy theory, fueled hate against migrants, and pushed the unfounded theory that former president Barack Obama is not an American citizen.
Jones and his outlet have also faced accusations that their work often aligns with Kremlin-funded outlets such as RT, and that they have at times benefitted from amplification from Twitter bots and other Russian information operations.
McClatchy reported in March that federal investigators are looking at whether far-right media such as InfoWars and Breitbart played a role in boosting Russian misinformation.
In this case, there's no question that InfoWars has been copying and pasting Kremlin-funded news articles and promoting them to its audience.
Multiple emails sent to InfoWars requesting comment on why the outlet has been mass-copying RT content were opened but not replied to.