Fake news identity theft. Yes, it’s a thing!
Salon brings us the story of a beauty queen who, unbeknownst to her, became an online conservative pundit.
In real life, Laura Hunter is too busy focusing on her career as a photographer and model to get involved in politics. She leans leftward but just doesn’t bother with it.
On the web, however, Hunter appears to be an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump and has written numerous articles defending him and advocating for his positions.
She’s been caught in a fake news vortex.
The surreal situation has turned into an actual tribulation for Hunter, last year’s winner of the Ms. World Pageant, her attorney said.
Hunter’s plight is an example of “fake news identity theft,” said lawyer Marc Randazza in a telephone interview. He’s never seen anything like it.
“It’s causing real problems for her,” Randazza said. “They’ve stolen her identity and used it to make money for themselves.”
To put a stop to the identity hijacking, Hunter filed a lawsuit last week seeking at least $50,000 in damages against several Las Vegas men who she says used her name and photo without authorization to create a series of websites and social media pages. In her initial court filing, Hunter says she has lost business and her reputation has been damaged. …
As of this writing, the fake Facebook profile of Hunter is still publicly accessible (although Hunter’s photo has been replaced by a clip art cartoon image) and has received more than 960,000 likes.
Actually, the page has (finally) been quashed by Facebook, but we found a screenshot.
