In an Instagram post from mid-August,Melbourne photographer Matt Lawson and a woman known online as Mel Ann plan a spam attack against mainstream media organisations. Mel Ann boasts that the campaign had already forced changes to Channel 9’s online presence.
“Nine News have had to take down some posts,” Mel Ann says on the video.
“If they take down posts,then that’s happy days,like if Dan[Andrews] takes down his propaganda,then I’m more than happy with that.”
Mel Ann rejected the notion that members of the group were"whack jobs",and insisted they were representing a broad-based movement with mass support.
In the same Instagram video,Mr Lawson speaks of setting up the Millions Rise for Australia group,the platform from which Thursday night's attacks onThe Age were launched. Mel Ann is an administrator of the group.
Mr Lawson tells his followers on the video that co-ordinating the attacks,so that thousands of comments appear online in a short period of time,is the key to shutting down the news coverage.
“We’ll co-ordinate,so we’re really pumping it into these guys,” the freelance photographer tells the online audience.
“If there's three or four thousand people doing it at once,and each of you doing five to 10 comments on every post,that's ... 50,000 comments this page is going to get hit by within five minutes. They're gonna be having to take pages down."
Mr Lawson did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
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Ms Ann declined to comment further on the actions of the group but provided a short statement.
"I have serious concerns about the integrity ofThe Age,and will not be participating in any form of discussion,providing you with an opportunity to take my statement out of context."
James Chessell,executive editor ofThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Herald,said Facebook had a responsibility to limit the spread of conspiracy theories and fake news.
"If Facebook was even vaguely interested in preventing the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories at a time when a measured,evidence-based discussion about public health issues was critical,it would allow media companies to turn off comments on certain stories.
"But Facebook has made it very clear that the profits it generates by providing a safe space for nutters and extremists overrides all other considerations."
Facebook has been contacted for comment.
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