A petition calling for a second referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU tops 2.5 million signatures, after the vote to leave.
The BBC, the UK’s national broadcaster, gleefully reported, as real, with no basic journalistic checks, an online petition that appeared to be growing at a colossal rate. By 1:30 pm, it was one of the fastest-growing petitions in history.
Source: EU referendum petition signed by more than 2.5m – BBC News
Unfortunately, the voting was actually being manipulated by 4chan bots:
Here’s 4Chan boasting about their work on the petition
Posts include:
Almost fifty thousand signatures from Vatican City
The population of the Vatican is around 800 people.
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They’ll look at the IPs and wonder how the fuck people from north Korea and the Vatican are voting
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>divismail.ru
How long until they blame Putin’s hackers for it?
@LouiseMensch The Petition for another EUref was pranked by 4chan/Anonymous they are totally amused by themselves. BBC reporting it as real
— Dragwlya MacAvelli (@A2Mac) June 26, 2016
BBC still reporting the petition even though most of the signatures have been proven to be fraudulent. #BBCNews
— Mr Squeaky Clean (@Mr_S_Clean) June 26, 2016
23,788 people from N Korea, one of the world's least internet-connected countries, have also signed the petition. https://t.co/KlQVwfHxJD
— Telegraph News (@TelegraphNews) June 26, 2016
Fun stuff!
Source: Brexit ‘2nd Referendum Petition’ A 4Chan Prank: BBC Report It As Real
