# Technique T0008: Create fake or imposter news sites

* **Summary**: Modern computational propaganda makes use of a cadre of imposter news sites spreading globally. These sites, sometimes motivated by concerns other than propaganda--for instance, click-based revenue--often have some superficial markers of authenticity, such as naming and site-design. But many can be quickly exposed with reference to their owenership, reporting history and adverstising details. A prominent case from the 2016 era was the _Denver Guardian_, which purported to be a local newspaper in Colorado and specialized in negative stories about Hillary Clinton.

* **Belongs to tactic stage**: TA03


| Incident | Descriptions given for this incident |
| -------- | -------------------- |
| [I00056 Iran Influence Operations](../incidents/I00056.md) | Fake news/synthetic web-sites |



| Counters | Response types |
| -------- | -------------- |
| [C00006 Charge for social media](../counters/C00006.md) | D2 Deny |
| [C00006 Censorship](../counters/C00006.md) | D2 Deny |
| [C00008 Create shared fact-checking database](../counters/C00008.md) | D4 Degrade |
| [C00012 Platform regulation](../counters/C00012.md) | D2 Deny |
| [C00014 Real-time updates to fact-checking database](../counters/C00014.md) | D4 Degrade |
| [C00053 Delete old accounts / Remove unused social media accounts](../counters/C00053.md) | D4 Degrade |
| [C00070 Block access to disinformation resources](../counters/C00070.md) | D2 Deny |
| [C00085 Mute content](../counters/C00085.md) | D3 Disrupt |
| [C00099 Strengthen verification methods](../counters/C00099.md) | D2 Deny |
| [C00107 Content moderation](../counters/C00107.md) | D2 Deny |
| [C00122 Content moderation](../counters/C00122.md) | D2 Deny |
| [C00153 Take pre-emptive action against actors' infrastructure](../counters/C00153.md) | D3 Disrupt |
| [C00172 social media source removal](../counters/C00172.md) | D2 Deny |
| [C00176 Improve Coordination amongst stakeholders: public and private](../counters/C00176.md) | D7 Deter |
| [C00188 Newsroom/Journalist training to counter influence moves](../counters/C00188.md) | D3 Disrupt |
| [C00189 Ensure that platforms are taking down flagged accounts](../counters/C00189.md) | D6 Destroy |


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