Published SourceSource / Evidence Document

Silverman Tries To Turn Ambiguous Chris King Tweet Into Anti-CEN Evidence

This document is a 25 March 2015 email from Craig Silverman to journalist Chris King with the subject “Media request”, sent almost exactly one month before BuzzFeed published its article about Central European News. Silverman says he is working on a story with BuzzFeed about CEN’s role in the “viral news ecosystem” and asks King to expand on a 9 March 2015 tweet in which King wrote “Central European News at it again” while linking to a HuffPost UK story headlined “Saudi Man Divorces Wife Because She Was In Love With A Camel”. This document should be read alongside the Chris King tweet screenshot and the HuffPost article PDF, which show the online comment and the specific CEN-linked viral story Silverman was trying to turn into supporting material. It is relevant because the tweet was ambiguous: BuzzFeed appears to have treated it as potentially negative commentary about CEN, but it could also be read as a wry or even admiring comment on CEN producing another absurd, highly shareable viral story. The fact that King apparently did not reply, and that the example does not appear to have survived into the final published report, suggests BuzzFeed may not have been able to confirm that the tweet meant what it needed it to mean.

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 SilvermanChris KingHuffPost UKSaudi camel storyanti-CEN tweetambiguous tweetmedia requestviral news ecosystemEmergentTow CenterColumbia Universitysource evidencedisclosurepre-publication investigationfake news narrative

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