Prominent US film studio 20th Century Fox has apologised after it drew widespread criticism for a recent promotion campaign which used fake news to generate publicity.
The studio was promoting its new thriller A Cure for Wellness and used fake news sites and fake stories to spread its message.
The company apologised through a statement and said the campaign was a mistake and was "inappropriate on every level".
"In raising awareness for our films, we do our best to push the boundaries of traditional marketing in order to creatively express our message to consumers. In this case, we got it wrong," the studio said.
It was not obvious that the stories were fake news. They were published on sites with names such as Houston Leader, NY Morning Post, and Indianapolis Gazette and many of the fake stories involved US President Donald Trump.
Within the fake stories were calls for readers to use hashtags related to the film to voice their objections to the 'news'. These hashtags then spread publicity for the film, even though the audiences did not necessarily know what they were promoting or that they had been reading fake news in the first place.
Some of the fake reports included Mr Trump banning vaccinations and meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in secret, according to Variety.
The company said in its statement that it has reviewed its internal approval process, and in future will make sure campaigns are vetted by management.
Newshub.