A fake news story said that two Russian officials linked to an infamous dossier and a Russian nuclear agency were among the victims of a plane crash near Moscow that killed all 71 passengers.
"Russian source behind fake Trump dossier killed in Russian plane crash, Rosatom CFO also dead," read the headline on a Feb. 11, 2018, post on Puppet String News.
The post was flagged on Facebook as being potentially fabricated, as part of the social media website’s efforts to combat fake news.
The fake news story took a real plane crash and made up the names of some of those who died.
Consider the source: Puppet String News describes itself as created by a jaded U.S. Navy veteran who "decided to get into alternative news to tell the truth to best of ability."
We found many things wrong with the post.
The story begins by citing an actual Business Insider story on Belarus-born businessman Sergei Millian as a key source in the Trump-Russia dossier, a 35-page report of opposition research on President Donald Trump, prepared by a former British intelligence officer who was hired by Trump’s Republican and Democratic rivals during the election.