The Washington Post and other major media got tripped up by fake news spread by Twitter sites linked to a massive Russian disinformation campaign, CNBC reported Friday.
The Post, which often sets the daily news agenda for broadcast networks, frequently cited tweets from websites tied to Russia's Internet Research Agency, described as a "troll farm" of propaganda designed to influence the Western media.
"The Post was one of the most prominent news organizations to include the bogus, misleading tweets in their stories," CNBC reported.
"On at least eight occasions since early 2016, the paper cited Twitter accounts that since have been pegged as Kremlin-sponsored trolls, according to an analysis by Recode with the aid of Meltwater, a media-intelligence firm," the report continued.
Marty Baron, the Post's executive editor, told Recode that the paper regrets "linking (stories) to any Twitter account that we have learned is illegitimate."
Record, a high-tech news and research site, listed more than 2,700 Twitter accounts linked to Russia.
The data show that other established media such as the Miami Herald and CBS News also relied on tweets from those sites in news stories.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia noted that the Russian trolls underscore the importance of the Senate investigation into Moscow's meddling in last year's presidential election.
"The fact that these fake accounts were able to fool legitimate news outlets into repeating their messages shows just how difficult it is for even well-informed Americans to identify Russian-produced propaganda on social media," Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Recode.
"The extent to which legitimate, mainstream news outlets picked up and amplified Russian misinformation is an illustration of its pernicious reach," he said.