Published SourceSource / Evidence Document

Craig Silverman Treats Famous Real CEN Saroo Brierley Story As Suspicious Over Minor Age Difference

This document is a 15 January 2015 email from Craig Silverman to Alan White and Tom Phillips with the subject “Two more”, sent while Silverman was looking for further CEN-linked material beyond the earlier Google Alert sequence. It records Silverman identifying a CEN-linked story about Saroo Brierley, the Indian man who survived on the streets as a child after becoming lost and later found his family using Google Earth, a story that went on to become internationally recognised and adapted into the major film Lion. Silverman says the “lost boy seems to be real” because it appeared on an official government website, but focuses on Google Translate giving Saroo’s age as 21 rather than 24. It is relevant because it shows BuzzFeed treating even a fundamentally real and later globally validated CEN story as potentially suspicious on the basis of a comparatively minor age discrepancy involving a man in his early twenties, illustrating how the investigation looked for usable flaws rather than fairly weighing the substance of the reporting.

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

Tags

BuzzFeedCENCentral European NewsCraig SilvermanAlan WhiteTom PhillipsSaroo BrierleyLionGoogle Earthlost boyHollywood filmMirrorDaily MailCEN picturesGoogle Translateage discrepancyreal storysource evidencedisclosurefake news narrative

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