"The new war is to wake up those who have been manipulated, while actively taking out the fake news campaigns," writes Willis in a blog post. "COVID has shown me the deadly side of fake news and anti-vaccination people. After multiple conversations with my father, who refuses to wear a mask or get vaccinated, I was getting very concerned. I asked him what sites he would read the conspiracy-based things on, and he mentioned the website that ran the network I had built the machine on."
Prior to approaching me, Willis had disclosed his history with fake news farms to his family, hoping to undo the brainwashing done by these websites. Unfortunately, it was too late. To this day, Willis' father does not believe the hacker's story, Willis said, adding, "He has been too manipulated."
Yes it is a matter of being careful what you wish for (create), because you may just get it... The purposeful creation of misinformation is what has largely contributed to the rot of the Internet, the negative perception of society, and in some cases even deaths. And all the time we were led to believe it was "the Russians". Well who knows what you can actually believe, but if anything, it makes a good case for a need for quality journalism in the world.
See
“Hacker X”—the American who built a pro-Trump fake news empire—unmasks himself#
technology #
misinformation #
fakenews #
manipulation #
socialmedia He was hired to build a fake news op but now wants to put things right.