When the Truth Gets Buried: Gaurav Srivastava and the Mechanics of Modern Disinformation

This review of Targeted covers the echo chamber created by the disinformation campaign against Gaurav Srivastava and the central role Wikipedia played in the saga. As an attack page went up on Wikipedia, senior editors flagged it and took it down - only for the page to be reinstated time after time. Eventually, a sock-puppet inquiry was opened to reveal all the editors managing the page were all logging in from the identical IP address - suggesting “they” were all the same person or several people working from the same physical space. One of Targeted’s producers engaged with one of these Wikipedia editors, who admitted he was being paid for his work and demanded $40,000 to submit to an interview on the podcast. The editor was ultimately thrown off Wikipedia and the attack page remains down.