Press regulator IPSO has ruled that it is accurate to call mental Corbynista website Skwawkbox a purveyor of fake news. When the Mail and Sun reported on Skwawkbox’s infamous untrue claim that the government had issued a D-Notice over Grenfell, Skwawkbox editor Steve Walker complained to the press regulator insisting it is inaccurate to say his website spread fake news. IPSO has considered his complaint and concluded that Walker and Skwawkbox are indeed fake news merchants:

The complainant’s blog had reported claims made by third parties that a D-notice had been issued in relation to the Grenfell fire disaster. As these claims had proven to be untrue, it was not significantly misleading for the publication to have said that the complainant had “spread” “fake news”… the Committee also noted that the complainant had given significant weight to this claim in his blog. Indeed, the blog had strongly suggested that it was true: it had said “every instinct is screaming that [the claims are true]”. Given that the complainant had endorsed the credibility of the claims and had effectively adopted them, it was not significantly misleading for the publication to have said that the complainant had “reported” that the government had issued a D-notice.

Worth reading the judgement in all its glory. It’s official…

The BBC has taken the inexplicable decision of promoting fake news site Skwawkbox on the News at Ten. Skwawkbox is not simply a left-wing or Corbynista news site. It deliberately peddles knowing untruths with the aim of going viral and misleading its audience – it is the definition of fake news. The BBC gave Skwawkbox’s lone author anonymity – Guido can tell you he is a far-left conspiracy theorist called Steve Walker. What on earth is the BBC’s media editor Amol Rajan thinking giving this nutter the platform of the News at Ten?