Around 150 fake US political news sites run out of Veles, a Macedonian city that is home to a population of 45,000.
These surreptitious operators, whose homeland has been reeling from a serious unemployment crisis with an average annual income below $5,000, have been cashing in on big bucks, courtesy creating and sharing false news.
The shocking reports came to light after an analysis was conducted during the 2016 US presidential elections. The data revealed that viral, false articles, mostly pro-Trump, outperformed real news stories on social media platforms like Facebook.
These website operators copy the style of popular news organisations and work on clickbait-style headlines in a bid to attract readers.
(With inputs from NBC News.)
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