A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact checked on a per article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources.
Overall, we rate Illicit Info Questionable based on extreme right wing bias, promotion of conspiracy theories and propaganda as well as use of poor sources who routinely fail fact checks.
Detailed Report
Reasoning: Extreme Right, Propaganda, Conspiracy, Poor Sourcing Country: USA World Press Freedom Rank: USA 48/180
History
Founded in 2018, Illicit Info is a conservative news and opinion website. According to their about page “IllicitInfo.com publishes commentary and opinion by conservatives and libertarians, not unbiased news reporting.” Illicit Info is held by Power To the Publishers LLC, which is owned by Mark Blatterfein. He also goes by the name Mark Sidney.
Funded by / Ownership
Illicit Info is owned by Power To The Publisher LLC and operated by Mark (Sidney) Blatterfein. According to SadBotTrue, Blatterfein owns 60 conservative or conspiracy related websites. Many of the domains are inactive. Some notable websites owned by Blatterfein are questionable sources such as Patriot Hangout and Liberty is Viral. The website is funded through online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Illicit Info publishes news stories from other sources and offers opinions that are always favorable to the right and negative to the left. Headlines frequently use extreme loaded sensational language such as this: Ocasio-Cortez’s Financial Records Expose Her As A Total Fraud, Green Pipe Dream Pusher Is A Total Hypocrite Frequent Flyer. When choosing news stories they often select extreme right biased Questionable sources such as the Conservative Tribune and The Gateway Pundit, both of which have terrible track records with fact checkers. They also use credible sources such as Cleveland.com, but then spin a factual story into a conspiracy narrative, such as this: “Maybe I’m channeling Danny Reagan, but the cause of death just isn’t consistent with suicide. People just don’t beat themselves to death.”
Overall, we rate Illicit Info Questionable based on extreme right wing bias, promotion of conspiracy theories and propaganda as well as use of poor sources who routinely fail fact checks. (D. Van Zandt 3/10/2019) Updated (4/20/20)
