Russian trolls’ fake news on Wikipedia

RUSSIAN trolls are planting fake news on Wikipedia to support lies they spread on social networks, it can be revealed.

MPs holding an inquiry into fake news are concerned Russians are creating a ‘treasure hunt’ trail of misinformation, it is understood.

Trolls are believed to be using automated technology to post on the online encyclopaedia first, then spreading the same lies elsewhere on the internet.

When members of the public use Wikipedia for fact-checking they are then fed false information, which is corroborated with links below, and spread on Twitter.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee was briefed on the practice.

Last night a source close to the inquiry said: ‘It seems not enough checks are being done by Wikipedia to make sure the content on there is not fake.’ It can also be revealed that committee members will fly to Washington in February as part of their inquiry.

Representatives from Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter will be quizzed at the British Embassy on what they are doing to combat fake news.

It will be the first time a select committee has held a session overseas broadcast live.

Last night committee chairman, Tory MP Damian Collins, said: ‘We want to know what they can do to identify and act against sources of fake news. My concern is they are not doing enough to analyse what is going on.’

The web giants have until January 18 to hand over details of the true extent of Russian meddling, including in the EU referendum.

Last year it emerged there was evidence of a ‘troll factory’ in St Petersburg with hundreds of recruits churning out fake news and flooding the web with attacks on the West.

Intelligence sources believe there are more troll factories in the country, although the scale of the practice is unknown. This is largely because web giants are refusing to do their own checks into who is posting on their sites.

It is thought this could be as simple as using artificial technology to automatically search for email accounts based in Russia.

In November Theresa May said Russia was waging a ‘campaign of cyber espionage and disruption’.

Wikipedia did not respond to a request for comment.