"An investigation by The Press Gazette found that four allegedly human freelance journalists who've published articles shilling specific crypto coins - in outlets including Forbes, Investing.com, HuffPost, CoinTelegraph, VentureBeat, and The Street, no less - strongly appear to be fake. And each of them, tellingly, bear striking connections to a publicity firm called MarketAcross, which on its website describes itself as offering "PR for the world's leading blockchain companies.""
"Per Press Gazette, the four writers in question - their bylines identify them as Nikolai Kuznetsov, Reuben Jackson, Luis Aureliano, and Joe Liebkind - each boast headshots that are either likely-AI-generated pictures or easily-traceable stock photos. None of them have any clear online history beyond their collective financial publishing careers, which total more than 1,000 articles."
"The human journalists at Press Gazette also found that each writer has frequently pushed readers to invest in cryptocurrencies hawked by MarketAcross clients, including a particularly dubious crypto effort dubbed "Gladius" that collapsed in 2017. And a defunct website for Kuznetsov, the most prolific writer among the seemingly phony cohort, was listed under the same address as a company called InboundJunction, a "media and PR group for tech, AI, and cyber brands" that has the same founders as - you guessed it! - MarketAcross."
"None of the outlets where the allegedly faux financial writers have published content were able to provide Press Gazette with evidence that the freelance contributors were real. And none of the writers accused of being fake responded to Press Gazette 's questions. In sum, according to Press Gazette 's reporting, it very much looks like crypto marketers have been operating made-up financial journalists like digital puppets, a sche"
Four bylined freelance financial journalists who published crypto-coin promotional content across major outlets appear to be non-genuine. Their headshots look like AI-generated images or traceable stock photos, and they lack clear independent online histories despite publishing over 1,000 articles collectively. Each writer frequently encouraged investment in cryptocurrencies associated with a publicity firm that markets PR for blockchain companies. One promoted project, Gladius, collapsed in 2017. A defunct site tied to one writer used the same address as a media and PR group sharing founders with the publicity firm. Outlets did not provide evidence of the contributors’ authenticity, and the writers did not respond to inquiries.
Read at Futurism
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]