By Brett Chandrasekhar

On December 30, Buzzfeed published an article outlining 50 of the biggest “fake news” hits in 2016. Below the title, a caption reads “Expect even more Trump hoaxes in 2017.” This couldn’t be more ironic, considering the website’s release of the #GoldenShowers memo just two weeks later.

For those that don’t know what #GoldenShowers is, it refers to a document claiming Trump watched a “urination show” at a hotel in Moscow, and that the Russians had this information as a form of “blackmail. To make things even more scandalous, the completely unverified allegation states that the prostitutes involved urinated on a bed formerly slept in by Barack and Michelle Obama. Get the full detail here.

It’s completely baffling that Buzzfeed would publish such a document — well, maybe not. In a world where clicks are king, such explosive claims are a siren call for news organizations, whether or not those claims have any merit behind them. And clearly, this article has no merit.

As the original Buzzfeed article states, “the allegations are unverified, and the report contains errors.” And as the company’s Editor-in-chief Ben Smith states, there is “serious reason to doubt” the claims.

Further embarrassing is that 4chan may have been the culprit behind the rumors! Of course, the source 4chan pointed to denies it, but who knows, right? We’re just being consistent with Buzzfeed’s journalistic standards.

In the age of “fake news,” this is both a funny revelation and an ironic one. Here’s what we know for sure, at the end of 2017 when Buzzfeed publishes its list of top “fake news” of the year, the publication’s own story will be right at the top.

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