Credit: Nake Batev / Getty Images The Secret Players Behind Macedonia's Fake News Sites

DONATE Above: A man reads a magazine near a newsstand in Skopje, Macedonia, 2017. Credit: Nake Batev / Getty Images A joint investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and partners has uncovered new information that rewrites the story of the fake news boom in the Macedonian town of Veles. A week before Election Day in 2016, BuzzFeed News revealed that young men and teens in Veles were running over a hundred websites that pumped out often false viral stories that supported Donald Trump. Media outlets from around the world descended upon Veles to tell the story of how the so-called fake news teens — many of whom had a shaky understanding of English — made large sums of money from digital ads shown next to their misleading stories about US politics. But after reviewing social media posts, government records, domain registry information, and archived versions of fake news sites, as well as interviewing key players, OCCRP, BuzzFeed News, and the Investigative Reporting Lab Macedonia can now reveal that Veles’ political news industry was not started spontaneously by apolitical teens. Rather, it was launched by a well-known Macedonian media attorney, Trajche Arsov — who worked closely with two high-profile American partners for at least six months during a period that overlapped with Election Day. One of those Americans, Paris Wade, is now running for office in Nevada. Arsov also employed other American and British writers, including at least one who currently works for US right-wing conspiracy site Gateway Pundit. The investigation also reveals that at least one member of Russia’s “troll factory,” who has been indicted by US special counsel Robert Mueller for alleged interference in the election, was in Macedonia just three months before the web domain for the country’s first US-focused politics site was registered. Reporters did not find any evidence connecting the Russian, Anna Bogacheva, to the Veles sites. Arsov denies any links to Russia. But now Macedonian security agencies are cooperating with law enforcement in the United States and at least two Western European countries to probe possible links between Russians, US citizens, and the pro-Trump “fake news” websites, two senior Macedonian officials said. Bogacheva and Arsov are among more than 20 people being looked at in two overlapping investigations in Macedonia, according to the two officials, who hail from different agencies in the country and were interviewed separately. The investigations are “still in a very early phase,” one of the officials told reporters. As of publication, none of the Americans involved with Arsov’s sites are known to be under investigation. A senior FBI agent familiar with the Macedonia case confirmed that the bureau is assisting with the investigations. The agent said that information determined to be of interest to Mueller is being shared with his office, but declined to comment further. Macedonian security officials said it’s not clear that anyone involved in the Veles fake news operations broke the law. But what is clear is that the powerful forces of Facebook, digital advertising revenue, and political partisanship gave rise to an unlikely global alliance that increased the spread of misleading and false news in the critical months before Election Day.

Patient Zero The stereotype of the Macedonian fake news publisher is of a teenager in Veles who knows little English, doesn’t care about journalism or US politics, and excels at using spammy techniques to make plagiarized misinformation go viral. Trajche Arsov is none of these things. But he is the godfather of US politics sites in the country. Arsov, 33, is a lawyer based in the capital of Skopje who comes from Veles, and commonly goes by the nickname Tale. He is a self-described libertarian who counts Republican senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz among his political idols. During more than a decade in which Macedonia was ruled by an authoritarian conservative government, he was one of only a few lawyers willing to defend independent journalists. (In a twist of fate, a coauthor of this story was formerly one of Arsov’s clients; Arsov was dropped as counsel after his publishing activities were uncovered during this investigation.) By reviewing domain registration records of Macedonian politics sites, reporters were able to determine that Arsov, along with his brother, Panche, registered the domain name of the first politics site in Veles, USAPoliticsToday.com, on Sept. 23, 2015. The site would soon set off a chain reaction in Veles, spawning many imitators. The Arsovs eventually established their own network of nearly half a dozen sites and associated Facebook pages — which had a total of over 2 million followers — that operated until the social media site finally took them down this April. Reporters met Arsov in mid-May in a hotel lobby in downtown Skopje, across from a museum commemorating Mother Teresa. He first denied any involvement in the sites. But when confronted with documents, he began to open up. In a series of interviews held in person and via WhatsApp and telephone, he gradually revealed details behind the enterprise, including information about his collaborators in Britain and the United States, which were later verified by reporters. He vehemently denies any connection to Russia’s propaganda operation. According to Arsov, it all began in the fall of 2015 with an approach from his brother, who usually goes by Pane. For years, Veles had played host to a multitude of sites that churned out viral articles on healthy food, supplements, muscle cars, motorbikes, and other niche topics. Some local men had made small fortunes from online advertising services such as Google AdSense. Pane, who was unemployed, wanted in on the action, Arsov said. (In response to requests for comment, Pane denied any knowledge of any investigations into fake news sites and said, “I am positive I’ve done nothing wrong.”) Arsov said the brothers briefly tried running a car site, but soon discovered that politics — especially of the conservative brand — performed better. Credit: Trajche Arsov Trajche Arsov, left, with his brother Panche Arsov. “I follow the Macedonian politics, the US politics, Russian politics,” Arsov said. “My idea was, ‘OK, you can start with something different, not healthy food, not sport, no cars. You can start with politics.’” Though Arsov considers himself a right-leaning libertarian, he says he first attempted to also crack the market in liberal content. But on Facebook, republishing conservative articles was just better business, he said. “We found that the names of the groups where we could stay longer, where our profiles were not removed, were related to conservatives, to Republicans, to Trump,” he said. “If you found 100 groups for conservatives, you could only find 10 for liberals.” In the first interview with reporters, Arsov claimed that his sites did not publish hoaxes; rather they initially ripped content from mainstream conservative sites, such as Fox News, Breitbart, the Daily Caller, and the Washington Examiner. “I’m against the mainstream media [because of its] bias to Democrats, CNN, and all others. ABC — they are also biased,” he said. An examination of archived pages from the now-defunct site, however, shows a raft of right-wing conspiracy theories. “Obama’s Ex-Boyfriend Reveals Shocking Truth That He Wants To Hide From America,” reads one early headline. “Putin to NWO Agents and Satan Worshipers: I’m Coming for You!,” was another, as was “HUGE Scandal – Chelsea isn’t Bill Clinton’s Daughter?” In at least one instance, the site republished an article from the satirical website the Onion, presenting it as real news. A number of early stories were also favorable to Russia, though Arsov repeatedly denied in interviews that his publishing business had any connection to Russia or anyone who might have operated as a proxy for the country. He simply used such content because it was readily available, he said. The Arsovs’ first site, called USA Politics Today, grew quickly. Word began to spread in Veles that the brothers had come up with a new topic that could make money. Soon, Pane’s friends began launching their own politics sites. One was Orce Stankovski, who previously spent six months unhappily working on a pig farm, according to Arsov. Stankovski launched USAPoliticsInsider.com and USADailyPolitics.com, domain registration records show. Others, mostly young men, soon created their own US politics sites in Veles. Stankovski hung up on a reporter when contacted for comment.