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Several business-focused digital news outlets quietly took down news articles about the massive scale of junk information floating around the cryptocurrency space.
Earlier this month, the crypto public relations and communications firm Chainstory released a study the company conducted saying that many of the crypto press release “wires†had been paid to promote projects considered to be high-risk or scammy. The study also noted that many of these companies guaranteed some news outlets would cover the press releases, and were essentially flooding the space with garbage crypto information dressed up to look like reliable news.
The study was covered fairly widely within the crypto space, garnering links in Coinbase, Cointelegraph, and other outlets.
But some sites that wrote up the survey appeared to have a change of heart.
Investing.com, one of the biggest business-focused digital news and investing sites, ran a piece titled, Crypto press releases dominated by high risk projects, chainstory study finds. But within a few days, it had been taken down without explanation. The publication did not return Semafor’s request for clarification about why the page had been removed.
Crypto Potato, a niche news site popular among crypto enthusiasts, also wrote up the study, explaining that crypto press “wires†operate on a pay-to-play basis that “turns article placement into a paid commodity.†But the blog similarly removed its story.
Neither site shared with Semafor why they removed the articles. But one person familiar with the decisions told Semafor that at least one executive from a company described by the survey had reached out to multiple outlets asking for the pieces to be taken down, arguing that the survey data was faulty and biased.
