User:Dumortierite/Aeronet

Aeronet (or AE News) is a fake news website published in Czech. The Chief editor is anonymous and only appears as VK (short for Vedoucí kolotoče – Manager of the carousel). Aeronet self-describes as "independent news reporting done by Czechs living in the Netherlands, Russia and USA". Most of Aeronet's content is hard to verify and speculations. This is because articles often don't have a listed author and only cite anonymous sources and most articles are pro-russian. It is not clear who finances the website, as it uses straw men to hide this information.

The federation of Jewish municipalities has in its 2020 report declared Aeronet as one of the most effective promoters of anti-semitic conspiracy theories in connection to the coronavirus pandemic. Before the pandemic the website has published anti-semitic conspiracies in connection to the shooting in Ostrava University hospital.

In 2014, the Czech Security Information Service has declared the website as a source of Russian propaganda. On 25th February 2022 CZ.NIC, the administrator of the TLD .cz, blocked access to Aeronet and several other websites as per the recommendation of the Czech government. This ban has been lifted in May 2022, however due to incorrectly filled information about the domain owner, CZ.NIC has not restored Aeronet's domain.

Domain history
The domain was first registered in 2001, with a goal to inform about amateur flying, during 2002 it has changed administrators and Lukas Brian Ross used it to offer illegal software, music and movies. Since 2014 the domain aeronet.cz was maintained by Domains by Proxy, which offer their clients a "hidden identity", this makes the current administrator of the domain unknown.