Washington Post - Alethea Group Uncovers Disinformation For Profit Ring

The Alethea Group uncovered a network of 178 websites designed to harvest email addresses, which are then sold to commercial brands and possibly also to political campaigns.

“This is for-profit fearmongering enhanced by aggressive data collection,” said Cindy Otis, Alethea Group’s vice president of analysis. The digital marketing apparatus made possible by the sites, including lucrative data profiles of their visitors, “comes with the capability to support political consulting or campaign work,” said Otis.

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