At least 30 websites invite people to make up a fake news story and share it on Facebook. Over the past 12 months the articles have generated more than 13 million engagements on the social network.

Laura Gallant / BuzzFeed Shrina Begum, the owner of Karri Twist, and the fake news story that's ruining her business.

Shrina Begum couldn’t understand why people were calling her Indian restaurant to accuse it of selling human meat. The calls started on May 11, and by the next day Begum says she and her staff had answered hundreds of them. “Both of our phone lines went off and people starting screaming, ‘Why are you selling human meat?’” she told BuzzFeed News. Business at Karri Twist, her restaurant in London, soon dropped by half. Begum had to reduce hours for some staff, and she feared the business might not survive the false rumor. “During one of the calls, [my employee] managed to calm a person down to find out where they’d seen this, and they were like, it’s been sent to them via Facebook. I just couldn’t believe it whatsoever.” Begum eventually tracked down the origin of the false rumor: A website called Channel23news.com had published a story claiming that her restaurant, Karri Twist, was caught selling human meat and that its owner had been arrested. The completely fake report, replete with spelling mistakes and the wrong name of the owner, featured a picture of Karri Twist and said nine bodies had been found on the premises in the freezer. The story looked like any other news report when shared on Facebook, and it quickly spread on the site, as well as on Twitter and WhatsApp. People who clicked on the link were brought to a page with the story, and beside it was text that read, “You've Been Pranked! Now Create A Story & Trick Your Friends!” Channel23News.com’s homepage is in fact a form that enables anyone to create a fake news story, add an image, and instantly share it on Facebook.

Channel23News.com Recent fake stories published on Channel23News.com.

The owner of Channel23News.com and at least 18 other sites like it is listed in domain registration records as Korry Scherer. He’s a 25-year-old based in Milwaukee who told BuzzFeed News he prefers to go by the name Korry Tye. In a phone interview he said he’s spent the past five years figuring out ways to make money from the internet. He started by using MySpace pages to advertise products, then eventually shifted his focus to Facebook. At the beginning of this year, Tye decided to launch his first so-called prank news site. “I just thought it could be something that might do well and would be fun and user-driven and take off on its own,” he said. The first site's success led him to launch more. He now owns 19 prank news websites with domains such as Channel23News.com, Channel22News.com, and Channel45News.com. Since February they’ve published at least 724 fake news stories, generating a total of more than 2.5 million shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. Tye says for the most part “people make pranks about their schools or their coworkers.” “There’s times that people abuse the platform, like all platforms get abused, and at that point people reach out to me and I have things removed right away,” he said. “It’s not meant for people to slander people’s names or bully people or do disrespectful things that could negatively affect someone’s life or ruin their day — that’s not cool.” (Tye did not respond to a subsequent email noting that the story about Begum’s restaurant was still online nearly three weeks after being published.) He acknowledged that on Facebook the prank stories from his sites look like any other news article. But Tye said most people will click on the stories they’re inclined to believe. “By the time they actually go check it out they’re gonna realize it’s all in fun,” he said. “Not everyone is as savvy as everyone else on the internet, but it’s pretty much there before your eyes.” He says the vast majority of stories posted on his prank sites are created by users, though in the early days he sometimes posted fake news stories gathered from other sites to try to raise awareness for his. Hoaxes from elsewhere continue to be copied and uploaded to his sites. The fake story “Man accused of ejaculating in his boss’ coffee everyday for 4 years” was first published on World News Daily Report and appeared on Channel34News.com a few days later. (Tye also owns other sites that often publish viral hoaxes that originated elsewhere.) “Initially I never really set out trying to mess with fake news,” he said. “This prank site for the most part is people making stories that affect them and their friends ... I definitely took advantage of online hoaxes and viral hoaxes over the years, I can’t deny that. It’s a way to make money.”

Media Vibes Popular fake stories from two of Nicolas Gouriou's sites.

Though he’s quickly built up a large network of make-your-own-fake-news sites, Tye isn’t the originator of what he calls the “prank news” concept. That may be Nicolas Gouriou, a man based in Belgium who owns at least 11 prank news sites that publish in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Italian. The oldest of his sites has been online since at least March of 2015. Gouriou did not respond to multiple emails from BuzzFeed News requesting an interview, or to a list of questions. Both men’s sites feature similar forms for uploading a fake news story, as well as instructions that are almost word for word. One difference is that Gouriou’s sites feature a disclaimer: “Any bullying, racist, homophobic or pornographic jokes are prohibited. Do not hesitate to report any inappropriate content by contacting us via the Contact Form.” In spite of the warning, Gouriou’s sites have been the subject of critical news stories in several countries where he offers language-specific versions. A website run by El Pais, one of the largest newspapers in Spain, published a story about the Spanish-language hoax site 12minutos.com. It noted that the site is a source of political hoaxes, and one fake story even caused a real journalist to ask a politician about it. France TV has examined Gouriou’s French-language fake news operation, and BuzzFeed Germany recently published a story to warn people about his German-language hoax site. Gouriou’s operation generates significant engagement on Facebook. Using data from Buzzsumo, BuzzFeed News found more than 2,300 stories published on his 11 sites in the past 12 months alone. Together they generated more than 10.5 million shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. Those same stories generated more than 22,000 shares on Twitter during the same time period. These sites continue to see strong engagement on Facebook in spite of the social network’s efforts to crack down on what it calls “false news” and clickbait. Based on his experience with Facebook, Tye said he thinks his sites' success probably won’t last. “Facebook does a lot of stuff to combat anything that’s doing well in the world, period,” he said. “As quick as it does good, Facebook damages the reach and affects the way it propagates.” He said the reasons for this is partly the company’s crackdown on fake news, and partly because he believes Facebook diminishes the organic reach of content in order to push publishers to pay to promote their content. “Facebook’s changed a lot and made it hard on a lot of people, but at the same time they created an opportunity and a space for people like me and others to make a ton of money, and it’s life-changing in some cases,” he said. “It might not be as sweet as it used to be, but it’s still great.” Tye said he’d be happy to follow whatever rules Facebook has for his pages and sites, but he’s been unable to speak with anyone from the company about it. “I aim to, and would like to, establish more of a working relationship with Facebook,” Tye said. “I have a healthy budget to spend with them.”

Laura Gallant / BuzzFeed A photo of the original Indian restaurant opened by Shrina Begum's father in 1957.