The way this guy cashed in on his expired domain might give you pause.
The New York Times published a story today that could be considered a domain name development success story. An exciting expired-domain-to-riches story.
Or something much worse.
The Times profiled Cameron Harris, a recent college graduate who wrote some of the most successful fake news stories of the presidential election season.
Harris explained that he found the expired domain name ChristianTimesNewspaper.com through ExpiredDomains.net. He then concocted fake news stories, published them to his site, and nudged them to go viral.
His biggest hit was BREAKING: “Tens of thousands” of fraudulent Clinton votes found in Ohio warehouse.
He earned $5,000 in Google Adsense revenue by getting gullible people to click and share that one article.
Harris was also behind popular fake news stories such as “NYPD Looking to Press Charges Against Bill Clinton for Underage Sex Ring,” “Protesters Beat Homeless Veteran to Death in Philadelphia,” and “Hillary Clinton Files for Divorce in New York Courts.”
(Sadly, I recall seeing some of these articles in my Facebook feed leading up to the election.)
So, on one hand, we have someone who developed an expired domain from nothing to $22,000 in revenue with little work. On the other hand, you might question the ethics behind it.
Oh, and Google turned off the Adsense ads on the site when it decided to crack down on fake news. I’ve found that overnight success online that seems too good to be true usually ends quickly.
AND who knows, maybe the “Success Story” published by New York Times may also be a Fake Story. Where does it end,lol.
i would have to say we should give credit to another success story and visionary in the industry who pioneered “fake news” DomainGang.com. I hope he is doing just as well as this guy 🙂
I should add that his of course is known humor and welcomed in the community.
It’s his fault Trump won ! j/k
Well, I had numerous people holding up those articles as “evidence” as to why they were voting trump, so maybe
“… you might question the ethics behind it.”
Nah. What’s wrong with spreading fear and hatred through lies for the sake of money?
isn’t that what politicians do
Some more than others.
In my opinion what this guy did was defamatory, he admits to creating fake news which clearly harms someone’s reputation, for profit.
That is a pretty amazing story. I’m not sure I would like to be highlighted for such activity. But it is nice to be written about in the Times I am sure. Does seem like a pretty risky process though. Not to get all legal about it as I really do not even want to think into it too much, but seems pretty darn crooked.
Turns out this Harris guy was working as a legislative aid. He was just fired. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/aide-to-md-lawmaker-fabricated-article-on-hillary-clinton-rigging-the-election/2017/01/18/5219bd0c-ddd7-11e6-acdf-14da832ae861_story.html?utm_term=.a3195bf95594&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
Karma, not karma really more like stupidity. In exchange for $22k he ruined his reputation, sad.
$$Millions in defamation lawsuits and legal fees may offset that initial windfall. With the Times article now a potential exhibit at a trial.
Surely! He will spend more than that $22,000 on litigation to free himeself
Pretty stupid to admit something like that. Even if he made millions, He should have known better.
it’s hard to have success and not to brag yourself. maybe he now learns a lesson
maybe its time not believe in all the black ink on white background no more… even if the background is grey