just in Sarah Palin hospitalized Bill Clinton loses it an interview
admits as a murderer if this that makes you want to click fake news dominated
the 2016 US election we have an epidemic of false information racing around using
social networks as the accelerator one city in Macedonia was at the very center
of it this is Valles two years I was earning
more than someone that will never run in this entire life and these other people
behind it it's a huge business it's a huge industry it's a huge Network we are
taking account so I can reach more and more people there is a strategy there's
a cleverness to this you don't know if it's filled eyes on law and I don't care
and one fake news producer makes a shocking revelation their next target
20/20 tucked away in the hills of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is
the small city of Ellis to place many thousands of miles away
from Washington but whose voices echo right across America so-called fake news
can have real world fighting the fake news it's fake for months I've been
wanting to come here ever since I heard over a hundred fake news sites were
trace right here to the city the old factories here in Veles many now left to
rust away used to make ceramics today it's known locally for something else
now it's known as Trump's palace famous for its fake news websites
I keep hearing the fake news industry is worth millions of dollars for walking
around it's clear to see this is not a city paved with gold in fact it's a
place that feels like it's trapped in a time warp while it simultaneously
charges ahead into the digital new world
so it makes me wonder who are the people behind this supposedly multi-million
dollar industry what are the chances of us getting someone to interview can you
help us never run the greatest we find several people in the city connected to
the fake news industry but they're reluctant to talk openly about it will
any other people you know the interested in talking to us be able to talk to us
they are worried about being exposed and their websites shut down this after
Facebook and Google began cracking down on fake news
but it seemed the local mayor isn't shy to tell us just how widespread the
industry is Tony Bravo Tara rush Americans consistent press machines are
about being on the path
about seven tabs or so there are open just in Sarah Palin hospitalized from
spot the stories that are really untrue completely fake Bill Clinton loses it an
interview admit is a murder of the stories on this particular website a
fake but other websites are actually going further they are mixing fact and
fiction that is a lie and that's mixed in with News and the main political page
and someone in the US could potentially be influenced by that they make you
wanna click and they make you want to share at the moment we're looking to
track down some of the websites currently up and running we want to know
what exactly they're writing about is a store President Trump this is the one of
the websites that we know comes from Macedonia it has a link to their own
Facebook the IP address and the IP location says it's Texas if you look
further down it gives you the address Bellus I'm gonna see if this person digs
up hello can you tell me a bit more about your website would you call it a
fake news website where do you get your ideas from where do you get the stories
from and who are your readers is it American readers who are the majority of
people yeah do the people that read your websites do they know that your website
is fake well they're not real news you're making stories up copy and paste
or do you write your own stories is there any chance that we can meet
alright thank you very much thank you Joe so that that was interesting I
wasn't expecting him to pick up the phone in fact I was expecting it to be a
fake number he doesn't he's doing anything wrong but yet again
doesn't want his face or his name to appear as you can see there we're not
talking about three four people 100 people is a hundred and twenty four
thousand people who like his stories website owners make their money from
advertising platforms like Google's absence place ads on their sites every
page visit earns a fraction of a cent third as you can imagine it quickly adds
up with hundreds of thousands of clicks then to drive traffic fake news
producers use Facebook they post links to their stories in fan groups often on
the fake profiles all in the hope that they will go viral
we spoke to Facebook and Google who told us they are actively identifying and
blocking accounts linked to fake news but on the ground producers are adapting
as we learned after chance encounter with some producers at a cafe they
didn't want appear on camera how many facebook profiles do have to
create in order to get your message out
by yourself yeah so how do you how do you get around that go by real profiles
yeah some kids then we change
real profiles exist and they just change into American names teenagers like to
euros before despite the breakthrough we got a sense that everyone in this town
was protecting each other but just when we thought our story was going to end
there I get a phone call this person who produces fake news websites wants to
meet on his terms so not meeting out here getting in the
car they're going to text me the location and let's see how it goes
being waiting for about 40 minutes or so to meets The Fixer actually nothing's
arrived is he here let's go all right he's here we are driven out of the city
center and taken to an industrial part of town all to protect the identity of a
man who says he's one of the pioneers of faith wheezing Vella's Mikhail has
arrived he's logged in to his website and I've noticed that it's not your own
name someone else's profile that we're doing all the time we are faking fake
numbers to have fake accounts so I can reach more and more people right so here
you're Jessica a lot of people commenting but also a lot of people
sharing as we're talking a lot of people here liking your posts what are you
working on now what are you looking ahead you know my primary goal is to
prepare a site that I like I was having before to be ready for the next election
in America u.s. election to us yeah how do you prepare for something like that
what are you looking at simply you need to make million fan page like you see
Jessica it's a fake a lot of fake pages a lot of fake numbers because i
beginning you need to do that to make people like your page I know how it is
to build big site and I will do it again I can tell you how much money I have
found in one day maybe it was around to two thousand two thousand five hundred
dollars at one day for this kind of money to earning per day you need to
have maybe a fanpage more than half a million million people what makes a good
clickable story in your opinion so you need to have an interesting topic
whatever Donald Trump is doing it's interesting for everyone
even in my country everything he said it's worth listening you know he's an
interesting face when you have million fans if you post something even if it's
not interesting a lot of them will open it just to see what it is and you will
get money you don't know if it's true or no I don't know and I don't care because
the people are really even if they open I'm getting paid are you proud of what
you've achieved in 22 years I was earning more than someone that will
never run in his entire life with the standard that we have in my
country so yes I'm proud you know if you try and put yourself in his shoes he
wanted to be a lawyer had dreams have big dreams like any one of us but he
said well why would I even spend years studying when I can basically make three
four times that he is focusing on the next big story is preparing his website
for the next big story in the next big story for him the next u.s. elections
it's not just him the had a computer there are people who write stories for
him people in the US who he depends on it's a huge business it's a huge
industry it's a huge Network and he's just one of hundreds working out of
Ellis
meeting Mikkel has given us a window into the fake news industry in Velas but
we know this goes far beyond him later we bump into the mayor at the opening of
any bar here the alcohol is flowing and the money's quite literally as local
tradition dictates being thrown around this is what the digital gold rush looks
like
young fake media producers have put vellus on the map on the world map are
you proud of that doc real walk was guru monastic we grabs a cup of awareness
Naruto Alicia dick need and suck on the Republican a colonial implication it may
be legal but is it morally right my motto
tickets anymore is there a big apology behind these guys who's influencing them
to influence the u.s. election yeah music awesome all new products
I almost understand why they're doing it high unemployment very little
opportunities here in the city you take a step back and you look at what they've
created and how they've managed to sustain it there is a strategy there's a
cleverness to this I think what they doing is plagiarizing I think they're
frauds but are we to blame this partly so as long as people in the United
States keep engaging keep clicking keep sharing keep liking these guys will be
in business