Joseph Farah, the editor of the far-right news site WND, has been busy raising money to keep WND running, claiming that big tech companies like Google and Facebook are “shamelessly writing algorithms” to lower the site’s traffic.
Farah’s latest fundraising gambit comes in an email with the subject “Did you ever see the Super Bowl ad banned by NFL, NBC?” that promises a “hot cybercurrency gift” for WND’s donors.
“I’m buying AML Bitcoin because it’s secure – and feisty!” the email begins.
Farah continues:
You’re probably sick of hearing me tell you spellbinding stories of how Google and Facebook and YouTube are out to get us – WND and the rest of the independent media.
I know how it must sound. Unless you’ve been watching Tucker Carlson on Fox News talk about the monopoly power these companies have grabbed, or Breitbart’s great reporting on the Digital Dons spying on you and manipulating your mind, or WND’s harrowing reports about just how much these fiends despise Christians and conservatives, it must all sound like hyperbole to you.
Believe me, it’s not. It’s not a shakedown or a scam when I tell you all independent media are facing an existential threat. I’m not just crying wolf – the wolf is at the door.
But there is hope:
But today I want to emphasize why I am excited about our current effort to raise money around a giveaway of AML Bitcoin. Ever since I first heard about this company, I was sure it would become one of the leaders in cryptocurrencies because of two things – (1) the safety and security it offers because of its unique, patented anti-hacking technology; and (2) AML Bitcoin’s swaggering attitude that got the company’s big commercial debut on the Super Bowl banned by politically correct NBC and the NFL.
The Super Bowl ad that Farah claims was banned is a hoax. Buzzfeed reported last month:
This week, AML Bitcoin, a company that purports to be creating an un-hackable digital currency that supposedly combats money laundering, manufactured a small outrage news cycle when it announced that the NFL and NBC rejected its Super Bowl advertisement for being "too political." The ad, which was posted on YouTube, depicted a caricature version of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un screaming at underlings as they tried and failed to hack AML Bitcoin's product.
But the ad wasn't banned, according to NBC. "It wasn’t rejected because it was never reviewed because the company never made a buy," an NBC spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "We don’t review creative until a purchase is made."
AML Bitcoin, which is currently trying to raise money through a process known as an initial coin offering (ICO), isn't the only company to falsely claim its ads for the world's most-viewed US sporting event were rejected. In 2011, Ashley Madison, the site that encourages extramarital affairs, used this tactic to build up publicity for an ad that it never intended to buy time for. According to Variety, NBC reportedly sought $5 million for a 30-second spot in this year's game.
Earlier this month, Farah said that WND was saved thanks to a decision to turn part of the company into a nonprofit along with developing a “revolutionary” new revenue stream. We wonder if this is it.
