Craig Silverman Builds Debunker Contact With Jack Werner Over Macedonian Penis Picture Story

This document is an October 2014 email exchange between Craig Silverman and Jack Werner of Metro Sweden about a CEN-linked story where an image said to show Macedonian man Oliver Ilic was identified by Werner as an older picture from China involving Yang Hu. It is included in the Source Library as source/evidence material connected to the BuzzFeed/CEN case, Silverman’s early CEN-related debunking work, and the development of contacts later relevant to the investigation. It records Werner alerting Silverman to the image issue, Silverman comparing it with his own Justin Bieber bear story about CEN, and Silverman using the exchange to promote wider non-BuzzFeed interests, including his Columbia University questionnaire and proposed Emergent fact-checking platform. It is relevant because Silverman appears to be engaging Werner in his academic/fact-checking capacity, using his Tow Center, Regret the Error and Poynter credentials, while gathering material and contacts that later fed into the wider case against CEN.

Source

Part of Central European News & Mike Leidig v BuzzFeed (US Second Circuit Libel Case) – BF Case Documents

Europe Media Published 1 May 2026 at 21:09 Source: 1 November 2016