BuzzFeed Decides Not To Delete Its Own CEN-Based Posts After Identifying Only One Conclusive Debunk

This 17 April 2015 email chain shows Robert Colvile asking Ben Smith, Luke Lewis and Shani Hilton how BuzzFeed should handle its own previous posts based on CEN images or copy, with the CEN article then in its “very final stages”. Colvile lists the BuzzFeed CEN-linked posts the team had tracked down so far, including one already deleted, community posts, partner posts, an item where BuzzFeed had “just bought the pic”, an item “already corrected”, and the Bieber bear attack story, which he says is “debunked” and “needs to be updated”. The document is significant because it shows the start of BuzzFeed’s process of discovering the extent to which it had itself used CEN material. At this point, Colvile says there “aren’t actually that many” BuzzFeed CEN pieces and that Alison’s Bieber bear item is “the only one we’ve conclusively debunked”, but later material showed BuzzFeed’s own use was more substantial, including stories that overlapped with the examples being used to criticise other publishers. That matters because BuzzFeed was preparing to publish a major article attacking CEN and criticising titles such as MailOnline for running material that BuzzFeed had also used. Colvile suggests BuzzFeed should avoid deleting its own posts outright “given recent controversy” and instead add a warning note saying the article was based on CEN material, that BuzzFeed News no longer viewed CEN as “a credible or trustworthy journalistic organisation”, and that BuzzFeed had been unable to verify the article’s accuracy independently. Shani Hilton replies that she thinks they should leave the body copy as it is and put the note at the top. The email is therefore important because it shows BuzzFeed managing its own use of CEN material as a transparency problem immediately before publication, while beginning to uncover that its own archive included the same kind of material it was preparing to attack others for publishing.

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