The California McDonald's rumor is coming from a digital ghost - The writer boosting McDonald's misinformation probably doesn't exist.

You probably haven’t heard the name Tony Bonnani, but he’s one of the most prolific writers on the internet. He publishes several articles a day, often churning out pieces within minutes of each other. Compared to most journalists, Tony Bonnani writes at a superhuman pace.

There’s one other interesting thing about Bonnani: He probably doesn’t exist. His name, face and stories appear to be the products of a content farm headquartered at a Connecticut shopping center. And one of his stories may have convinced thousands of people that they’d never be able to eat a Big Mac in California ever again.

The culture war comes for the Big Mac

In recent weeks, misinformation about chain restaurant closures has proliferated on social media. Rumors that Chili’s and Fuddruckers were going out of business gained enough traction to prompt both chains to issue responses.

But perhaps most perplexing of all is the rumor that McDonald’s is shutting down its California locations. The Google search term “McDonald’s leaving California” began trending two days ago. This morning, it briefly eclipsed “Giants” and “Warriors” as search terms. A quick Google search of the phrase yields a flurry of YouTube videos speculating about the chain’s exodus.

“MCDONALD’S TO SHUTDOWN IN CALIFORNIA……. (SHOCKING)” reads the title of one video with 50,000 views, uploaded two days ago.

Another video, with more than 400,000 views, takes a more moderate approach: “Another Scandal Hits California While McDonald’s Considers Leaving the State.”

On Google News, searching the term dredges up a few recent articles about individual franchisees struggling to manage costs with the state’s minimum wage increase. But only one article, which was picked up by MSN, has a headline suggesting that the chain is actually leaving the state: “McDonald’s on the verge of CLOSING in California After $20 Minimum Wage.”

Although the link still pops up on Google, the webpage for the article no longer exists. MSN, which is Microsoft’s news aggregator, likely took it down. MSN does not produce content of its own, but recirculates articles submitted by its content partners, which have syndication agreements with the service.

SFGATE traced that article back to an outlet called UnitedLiberty, which has more than 20,000 followers on MSN. The website churns out formulaic articles with a conservative slant, populated by short paragraphs and generic photos. Most list a single YouTube video for a source, like the story “9 Self-Defense Tactics Against Violent Mobs That Won’t Land You In Jail,” which cites a video by a channel called Armed Attorneys.

Some headlines, like “3 Supreme Court Justices Recuse Themselves From Election Case,” are blatant misinformation. Others, like the McDonald’s headline, are misleading. Many are simply incendiary: “RFK Jr OPPOSES Gun Ban, Argues Guns ARE NOT To Blame For Violence.”

The McDonald’s closure story cites a video from a YouTube channel called Market Gains, which is likely the source of the rumor. (SFGATE reached out to McDonald’s for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.) The video was posted seven days ago, and although its title suggests that the franchise is closing its California locations (“McDonald’s Is Suddenly CLOSING In California After $20 Minimum Wage”), the video is actually a summary of several news articles discussing individual franchisees’ struggles to balance costs, like this piece from Fox Business.

The text of UnitedLiberty’s article is different from the Market Gains video, but the titles are nearly identical. The article’s text, unlike its headline, does not suggest that the chain is on the verge of leaving the state, but given the panic that has ensued, many people didn’t read beyond the headline.

The talented Mr. Bonnani

Most of the site’s articles, including the McDonald’s closure piece, are written by an author named Tony Bonnani. Yesterday, 12 articles were published under his name, several within the span of a minute. The previous day, Bonnani “wrote” five articles, and about 10 more the day before that.

For such a prolific writer, Bonnani is a digital ghost. Searching his name yielded only links to his articles, nothing more. His author photo appears nowhere else on the web. TrueMedia, a tool for fighting A.I.-manipulated content, rated Bonnani’s headshot as “highly suspicious” for use of generative AI.

Using fake human authors to push out AI-generated is not a new phenomenon. Last year, Sports Illustrated deleted the profiles of several fake writers after it was caught publishing AI-generated articles.

On its own, this steady churn of garbage content would be banal, if a tad depressing. But UnitedLiberty is not an isolated node in the information ecosystem. MSN has a wide readership, showing up by default on Microsoft web browsers and products.

Although UnitedLiberty’s article did not spawn the rumor, it played a role in circulating it. UnitedLiberty helped the rumor cross over from YouTube to digital news, accelerating its spread. This created a feedback loop of sorts; the aforementioned 400,000-view YouTube video cites Bonnani’s article, and includes several screenshots of the article on MSN before it was taken down.

David Harris, a lecturer on AI ethics and social media at UC Berkeley and former misinformation researcher at Meta, referred to the proliferation of this type of low-grade content as the “ens—ttification of the internet,” a term coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to describe the decay of internet platforms.

“The internet is filling up with s—t, and it’s really bad for our societies,” Harris told SFGATE. “It’s not just a minor irritation, like the junk mail flyers that I still seem to get every week in my actual mailbox. It’s a major, major threat to our information environment and our democracy.”

In his research, Harris said he’s noticed many fake news websites similar to UnitedLiberty that produce content at “inhuman rates.” Some even include summaries of his own published articles, scraped without his permission.

It’s unclear how this sort of content arrived on a publisher like MSN, though it’s not the first time MSN has published misinformation. In October, MSN disseminated a false story that San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston had resigned after a fight with Elon Musk.

SFGATE reached out to MSN to find out how stories like UnitedLiberty’s end up on its site but did not receive a response by the time of publication. However, we did hear back from Bonnani’s boss.

‘Good writers are VERY hard to find’

UnitedLiberty is part of a company called Get Media, LLC, headquartered in a Connecticut shopping center. Public records obtained by SFGATE list a Connecticut man named Kris Lippi as the principal of Get Media, LLC.

UnitedLiberty also shares an IP address with three other websites: Boomers Remember, ISoldMyHouse and Circle Squared. All three websites also feature writing by authors who churn out articles at astonishing rates. All three are run by LLCs that list Lippi as their principal. And in public records, all three list their headquarters in the same shopping center, within a stone’s throw of a dentist’s office and a Thai restaurant.

Like UnitedLiberty, ISoldMyHouse has a syndication agreement with MSN. While some ISoldMyHouse and UnitedLiberty articles draw little engagement on the platform, others draw thousands of likes and comments.

Article continues below this ad In recent weeks, misinformation about chain restaurant closures has proliferated on social media. Rumors that Chili’s and Fuddruckers were going out of business gained enough traction to prompt both chains to issue responses.

In recent weeks, misinformation about chain restaurant closures has proliferated on social media. Rumors that Chili’s and Fuddruckers were going out of business gained enough traction to prompt both chains to issue responses. Photos via Getty; Illustration by SFGATE

Tony Bonnani published a second article about McDonald’s leaving California on May 27. That article was picked up by MSN on May 30, and remains on the site as of publication.

The article cites a YouTube video, titled “80% of American’s Can’t Afford Fast Food | McDonalds Leaving CA,” as its only source. And that video cites Bonnani’s original article multiple times.

The snake is eating its own tail. Lippi’s articles scrape YouTube videos. YouTubers then cite those articles, and new articles scrape those videos for new content. This ens—ttification feedback loop amplifies misinformation, creating an echo chamber loud enough to influence Google Trends.

When SFGATE reached out for comment, Lippi denied that AI was involved in the production of the articles. He referred to Bonnani and the other prolific authors on his sites as “freelance writers.”

“I’m not sure how you would do a news story with AI because it’s my understanding the knowledge is only current to a certain date in the past,” he wrote in an email to SFGATE.

SFGATE asked twice to be put in touch with Bonnani. Both times, Lippi declined.

When pressed on the rapid clip of Bonnani’s output, Lippi replied that the multiple articles published within the span of a minute were pre-written and scheduled for simultaneous publication. Then, he extended a job offer.

“I must say, I do appreciate your hustle, and if you would like to freelance for me, let me know and maybe we could work something out,” he added. “Good writers are VERY hard to find.”

May 31, 2024