The publication has been one of the most prominent promoters of “Spygate,” a baseless conspiracy theory involving claims that Obama administration officials illegally spied on Mr. But it has also created a global-scale misinformation machine that has repeatedly pushed fringe narratives into the mainstream. Trump and Facebook has made The Epoch Times a partisan powerhouse. Many of these people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation, or still had family in Falun Gong.Įmbracing Mr. The investigation included interviews with more than a dozen former Epoch Times employees, as well as internal documents and tax filings. In 2006, an Epoch Times reporter disrupted a White House visit by the Chinese president by shouting, “Evil people will die early.”īut the organization and its affiliates have grown, in part, by relying on sketchy social media tactics, pushing dangerous conspiracy theories and downplaying their connection to Falun Gong, an investigation by The Times has found. It is a remarkable success story for Falun Gong, which has long struggled to establish its bona fides against Beijing’s efforts to demonize it as an “evil cult,” partly because its strident accounts of persecution in China can sometimes be difficult to substantiate or veer into exaggeration. In August, a reporter from The Epoch Times asked a question at a White House press briefing. The president and his family have shared articles from the paper on social media, and Trump administration officials have sat for interviews with its reporters. Today, The Epoch Times and its affiliates are a force in right-wing media, with tens of millions of social media followers spread across dozens of pages and an online audience that rivals those of The Daily Caller and Breitbart News, and with a similar willingness to feed the online fever swamps of the far right. Dragon Springs’ attorney, Christine Moon-Counts, also did not return a request for comment Tuesday, nor did Dragon Springs President Jonathon Lee.In an April 2017 email to the staff obtained by The New York Times, the paper’s leadership envisioned that the Facebook strategy could help turn The Epoch Times into “the world’s largest and most authoritative media.” It could also introduce millions of people to the teachings of Falun Gong, fulfilling the group’s mission of “saving sentient beings.” Glen Plotsky, the attorney for the Zoning Board, was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

The first that the Zoning Board became aware of this application was when they received the lawsuit.” “They turned in their application and somehow, someone misplaced it. “I think it’s a big misunderstanding, and I think everything is going be rectified rather quickly,” Volpe said. Mount Hope Supervisor Chad Volpe said the issue arose because Dragon Springs’ application to the ZBA had been inadvertently misplaced. Dragon Springs then bypassed the Planning Board and filed an application with the Zoning Board on April 29.Īs of July 30, when the lawsuit was filed in state Supreme Court in Goshen, the ZBA had taken no action on the proposal. But the following day, the Building Department notified Dragon Springs the permit was revoked because the proposal had to go before the town Planning Board. The suit claims Dragon Springs’ right to due process was denied after the Building Department revoked a permit for the $1 million solar farm and again when the ZBA failed to take any action on the matter within the required 62-day time period.ĭragon Springs submitted a site plan for the project on March 3, the suit states, and on March 30, the Building Department granted a permit. MOUNT HOPE - Dragon Springs Buddhist Inc., a religious enclave for practitioners of Falun Gong in the Towns of Mount Hope and Deerpark, has sued the Mount Hope Zoning Board of Appeals and Building Department over its proposal for a 23-acre solar farm.

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