'Bot insanity'! Newsweek retracts report about what 'took down' Al Franken (Guess why)

A couple days ago, Newsweek published a story titled “How an Alt-Right Bot Network Took Down Al Franken.” The report naturally was picked up by several outlets and retweeted and shared countless times. Now that the “fake news” has spread far and wide, Newsweek looked into it and took it all back:

Aaand it's gone https://t.co/R0pAfunpFE pic.twitter.com/r9cZBmQa3p

— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) February 21, 2018

The media’s coming rush to blame everything on “bots” will mean this certainly be the last time something like that happens:

Ya don't say….

Bot insanity. https://t.co/hm47kJA22w

— Melissa Mackenzie ? (@MelissaTweets) February 21, 2018

Report first, ask questions later!

Al Franken just can't catch a break https://t.co/Dv2DnIXPEH

— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 21, 2018

So unlike Newsweek…

— TC3 #KAG #PatriotsNotPoliticians *** (@TimCote77) February 21, 2018

https://twitter.com/AdamBaldwin/status/966345457403244544

They wanted it to be true so badly, which unfortunately is enough of an editorial standard for some media outlets.