A man based in Scotland has revealed to BuzzFeed News how he tricked the right-wing conspiracy site Infowars into publishing a completely fake report about president-elect Donald Trump.

Markus Muir, a 27-year-old marketing professional from Glasgow, sent direct messages on Twitter to Infowars editor-at-large Paul Joseph Watson claiming BuzzFeed News and CNN were due to release harmful footage of Trump.

The report, which has now been shared over 15,000 times on Facebook, directly quoted the messages, which claimed the footage of Trump showed him using the n-word in a previously unseen outtake of The Apprentice.

Muir, who claimed in the messages to work for NBC, has revealed he was the single source for the report in the form of an account which he set up solely for the prank. He said Watson did not ask for any evidence that he worked for NBC or about how he gained the information.

It was not until after the Infowars report was published that Muir contacted BuzzFeed News in New York and revealed his role in it. To verify his claims and view his messages with Watson, a reporter then met Muir in person in Scotland.

"I said I worked at NBC and couldn't say any more," said Muir. "It was only two direct messages and I thought he might ask for more confirmation. I went to bed, forgot about it, then I checked his feed on the train to work and it was just him saying there was huge news about to come out.



"I couldn't believe it. It was a cut-and-paste job of what I said to him and it was all bullshit – I made it all up."

