Infamous 'fake news' writer Paul Horner dies in US
The key distributor of fake news during the 2016 presidential elections of USA has died at the age of 38. Photo: 3TV/CBS 5
(Web Desk) – An American writer famous for writing ‘fake news’ and disseminating fraudulent articles on Facebook was found dead in his home.
According to BBC, Paul Horner who was the key distributor of fake news during the 2016 presidential elections of USA has died at the age of 38.
The purveyor of fake news was found dead after a suspected drug overdose on September 18, according to the Maricopa County sheriff’s spokesman.
Horner, after Donald Trump’s victory in presidential elections laster year claimed that it was because of his published fraudulent articles on Facebook and many different websites he set up.
Last year in an interview to a local news channel, Horner stated: "There (are) no things that weigh heavy on my conscience". Photo: 3TV/CBS 5
During the US presidential campaigns social media’s role played a vital role and the major concern during campaign was fake news.
A series of made-up stories has been accused by many people for influencing the outcome of the vote.
One of Horner’s stories which caused a huge controversy was the one claiming that former President Barak Obama was gay and a radical Muslim.
Donald Trump’s son Eric and his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski shared and posted one of Horner’s fake news on social media. The post was about protesters being paid $3000 to demonstrate against the Republican candidate.
Despite writing false stories, many of Horner’s news websites such as newsexaminer.net suggested it was a legitimate news website. Yet, Horner defended his work calling it ‘political satire’.
"There s a lot of humour and comedy in it," he said in an interview with CNN in December.
Paul Horner in an interview with CNN defended his work as "political satire". Photo: YouTube/CNN
"I do it to try to educate people. I see certain things wrong in society that I don t like and different targets."
Jj Horner, his brother, posted on the social media that he had died in his sleep at his mother’s house, describing the writer as “an internet wizard, a humanitarian, an activist, a philosopher, a comedian".
Paul Horner’s death was later confirmed by the County’s Sherriff spokesman, Mark Casey stating that the autopsy showed no signs of foul play. Casey stated that, Horner had a history of prescription drug abuse and that: “evidence at the scene suggested this could be an accidental overdose”.
Horner came under pressure, after social media sites such as Facebook started working with US investigators to track down the author’s news with misinformation on the internet and establish whether it was meant to influence voters.
Last year in November, Horner stated in an interview with the Washington Post that: “I think Trump is in the White House because of me.”
“My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time… His followers don’t fact-check anything – they’ll post everything, believe anything.”
But when he was asked whether his fake news were meant to target Hillary Clinton’s supporters to help her rival, he said: "No. I hate Trump."
