Idaho Town Paralyzed by Fake News Firestorm
It’s on the InfoWars front lines. During the 2016 presidential campaign, denizens of Twin Falls, Idaho, became the antagonists of a fake news narrative: Knife-wielding Syrian refugees gang-raped a young white girl, and local officials shielded the assailants. While a child-on-child assault was prosecuted, the stories — some proliferated by Kremlin-linked Facebook accounts — were largely false, stoked by so-called alt-right “journalists,” including a Breitbart reporter who now works for a Russian broadcaster. They’ve been debunked, but new online eruptions incite chilling threats against town journalists and officials.
