Microsoft Network (MSN) posted a “news” story to their website on Thursday which appears to use a far-left bot account on Twitter as a source for a story on Congressman Matt Gaetz.
The headline on the article was taken from an unverified, left-wing troll Twitter account by the name “Riley Singh,” and alleged: “‘Gaetz hopes Kyle Rittenhouse has friends who are underage girls’: Matt Gaetz’s history with teens resurfaces after internship offer.”
The article alleges that Rep. Gaetz’s offer of a Capitol Hill internship to Kyle Rittenhouse “was just to see if he has any friends Gaetz could hook up with.” The source of the claim is, however, a bot account with just 74 followers:
The tweet from the bot was used by MSN in a piece by far-left activist David Covucci, who originally published the content to the “Daily Dot” blog.
As readers began pointing out MSN’s journalistic malfeasance and potential libel of Rep. Gaetz, the network began hiding critical tweets from its timeline. The article remains online as of publication on Saturday afternoon.
The Twitter account @RileySingh3 has an extensive history of posting abusive messages to conservative users. The account appears exclusively designed to attack conservatives:
RileySingh3 has called people from Kentucky “hicks” and “special kinds of trailer trash.” The account has also relentlessly posted misogynistic comments.
MSN is owned by Microsoft, the tech giant founded by globalist billionaire Bill Gates. The vertical responsible for the headline featuring the story is run by John Henrikson and Smita Shukla according to MSN’s official website.
Shukla appears to be a far-left activist, as her Twitter feed constantly retweets Marxist politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, left-wing activist Aaron Rupar, and Hillary Clinton. Shukla has also sent fawning tweets at failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who consistently peddles falsehoods about why she lost her 2018 election.
THANK YOU, @staceyabrams 💙
— Smita Shukla (@sshukla) November 6, 2020
MSN’s website carries the following statement about their content:
“Our algorithms suggest appropriate photos to pair with content to help bring stories to life. Editors then curate the top stories throughout the day, across a variety of topics, so our readers get the latest news from the best sources.”
Unlike news media organizations, Microsoft uses the following process to curate stories:
“Our AI scans the content as it arrives, processes it to understand dimensions like freshness, category, topic type, opinion content and potential popularity and then presents it for our editors.”
Covucci, the original author of the baseless article, has previously spent his journalistic career exploring “masturbation booths” in Brooklyn, New York, where he resides.
Congressman Gaetz has been the subject of numerous false allegations over the course of 2021, with allegations swirling in the earlier part of the year about paid sex with underage girls. None of the allegations were ever proven, and Rep. Gaetz had no accusers come forward after the media hyped the story and even harassed his staff and former girlfriends.
A CNN cameraman was recently arrested for making violent threats at Rep. Gaetz, while a CNN producer admitted on hidden camera that the stories about him were Democrat-led “propaganda”.
Kay Smythe, Natalie Winters, and Raheem Kassam contributed to this story.
