Global InformationNatural News information
 | |
Type of site | Fake news website |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | Mike Adams |
| Created by | Mike Adams |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | Nutraceuticals |
| Launched | 2008 |
Natural News (formerly NewsTarget, which is now a separate sister site) is a far-right, anti-vaccination conspiracy theory and fake news website known for promoting alternative medicine, pseudoscience, disinformation, and far-right extremism.[1][9] The website began publishing articles in 2008 and is based in the United States.[1][6]
The site's founder, Michael Allen "Mike" Adams, gained attention after posting a blog entry implying a call for violence against proponents of GMO foods, and then allegedly creating another website with a list of names of alleged supporters. He has been accused of using "pseudoscience to sell his lies".[10] Adams has described vaccines as "medical child abuse".[11]
The website sells various dietary supplements, promotes alternative medicine and climate change denial, makes tendentious nutrition and health claims,[12] disseminates fake news,[20] and espouses various conspiracy theories and pro-Donald Trump propaganda.[21][22] These conspiracy theories include chemophobic claims about the purported dangers of "chemtrails",[5] fluoridated drinking water,[23] heavy metals, anti-perspirants, laundry detergent, monosodium glutamate, aspartame, and vaccines.[5][12][24] It has also spread conspiracy theories about the Zika virus allegedly being spread by genetically modified mosquitoes[25] and purported adverse effects of genetically modified crops, as well as the farming practices associated with and foods derived from them.[26]
As of 2014, Natural News had approximately 7 million unique visitors per month.[8]
In May 2020, Facebook banned Natural News content from its platform after discovering that the site was boosting its popularity using content farms in North Macedonia and the Philippines, a form of spamming.[27] Natural News bypassed the ban by republishing its content on a large number of topic-specific domain names, including trump.news, extinction.news, mind.control.news, and veggie.news.[27][28] The Institute for Strategic Dialogue found 496 domain names associated with Natural News as of June 2020 with Registered Agents Inc. serving as the registered agent for multiple Natural News-affiliated companies.[28][1]
- ^ a b c "Anatomy of a Disinformation Empire: Investigating NaturalNews". Institute for Strategic Dialogue. June 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
- ^ Zeng, Jing; Schäfer, Mike S. (October 21, 2021). "Conceptualizing "Dark Platforms". Covid-19-Related Conspiracy Theories on 8kun and Gab". Digital Journalism. 9 (9). Routledge: 1321–1343. doi:10.1080/21670811.2021.1938165.
In contrast, Gab users who shared more far-right "fake news" websites are relatively more visible on Gab. Some of the most cited sources under this category include the Unhived Mind (N = 2,729), Epoch Times (N = 1,303), Natural News (N = 1,301), Breitbart (N = 769), the Gateway Pundit (N = 422), and InfoWars (N = 656).
- ^ Lutzke, Lauren; Drummond, Caitlin; Slovic, Paul; Árvai, Joseph (September 2019). "Priming critical thinking: Simple interventions limit the influence of fake news about climate change on Facebook". Global Environmental Change. 58. Elsevier: 101964. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101964. Retrieved February 17, 2022 – via National Science Foundation.
The three fake news posts were drawn from websites of three different hyper-partisan media outlets: Breitbart, InfoWars, and Natural News. Each of these outlets is known for peddling in conspiracy theories and disinformation, and content from each is heavily biased in favor of an ultra-conservative political ideology (Marwick & Lewis 2017).
- ^ Guarino, Stefano; Pierri, Francesco; Di Giovanni, Marco; Celestini, Alessandro (March 1, 2021). "Information disorders during the COVID-19 infodemic: The case of Italian Facebook". Online Social Networks and Media. 22: 100124. doi:10.1016/j.osnem.2021.100124. ISSN 2468-6964. PMC 8479410. PMID 34604611. S2CID 232413008.
- ^ a b c Madrigal, Alexis C. (February 27, 2019). "The Small, Small World of Facebook's Anti-vaxxers". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Weill20190609was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Fake News Empire Exposed". Weather Channel. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
- ^ a b Blake, Mariah (July 25, 2014). "Popular anti-science site likens journalists to "Nazi collaborators" over GMO coverage". Mother Jones. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
- ^ [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Bankswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Gumbel, Andrew (January 25, 2015). "Disneyland measles outbreak leaves many anti-vaccination parents unmoved". The Guardian. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Novella2010was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Owen, Laura Hazard (October 26, 2020). "Older people and Republicans are most likely to share Covid-19 stories from fake news sites on Twitter". Nieman Lab. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
- ^ Osmundsen, Mathias; Bor, Alexander; Vahlstrup, Peter Bjerregaard; Bechmann, Anja; Petersen, Michael Bang (May 7, 2021). "Partisan Polarization Is the Primary Psychological Motivation behind Political Fake News Sharing on Twitter". American Political Science Review. 115 (3). Cambridge University Press: 999–1015. doi:10.1017/S0003055421000290. ISSN 0003-0554. S2CID 235527523.
- ^ Ognyanova, Katherine; Lazer, David; Robertson, Ronald E.; Wilson, Christo (June 2, 2020). "Misinformation in action: Fake news exposure is linked to lower trust in media, higher trust in government when your side is in power" (PDF). Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. 1 (4). Shorenstein Center. doi:10.37016/mr-2020-024.
- ^ Guess, Andy; Aslett, Kevin; Tucker, Joshua; Bonneau, Richard; Nagler, Jonathan (2021). "Cracking Open the News Feed: Exploring What U.S. Facebook Users See and Share with Large-Scale Platform Data". Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media. 1. doi:10.51685/jqd.2021.006. ISSN 2673-8813. S2CID 236598470.
- ^ "Google delists Mike Adams' Natural News website. Was it because of fake news?". Science-Based Medicine. February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
LeVinewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Lynas, Mike (November 27, 2017) "Anti-biotechnology fake news: 'Natural News' claims RNAi used to 'eliminate black people'", Genetic Literacy Project. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
- ^ [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
- ^ Beth Mole (June 10, 2019). "Facebook bans health and conspiracy site Natural News [Updated]: Conspiracist founder compares Zuckerberg to Hitler, urges Trump to declare war". Ars Technica.
- ^ Pearce, Matt (February 7, 2013). "Conspiracy theorists harassing, impersonating Aurora victims". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
crankwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Orac [David Gorski] (October 27, 2011). "Mike Adams vs. the flu vaccine". Respectful Insolence. ScienceBlogs. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
- ^ Qui, Linda (February 9, 2016). "No evidence to support rumors tying Zika to genetically modified mosquitoes". Politifact. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
- ^ Blum, Deborah (December 20, 2013). "An Honor for Elemental (the cyanide version)". Wired. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ^ a b Funke, Daniel (June 5, 2020). "Health misinformation website rebrands as pro-Trump outlet to get around ban from Facebook". PolitiFact. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
- ^ a b Heilweil, Rebecca (June 25, 2020). "Facebook's war against one of the internet's worst conspiracy sites". Vox. Retrieved February 5, 2021.