How North Macedonia Became Linked to Famous Fakes
North Macedonia’s best-known place in hoax history is not an ancient forgery or a legendary monster, but the internet economy that grew around the town of Veles during the 2016 United States presidential election.
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Introduction
The country also supplied the setting for a remarkable later media stunt: Jonas Bendiksen’s The Book of Veles, a supposedly documentary photographic project whose people, animals and text were largely synthetic. Beyond these unusually well-documented cases, claims about monsters, forged antiquities and manufactured national history require more caution. Some are folklore, political mythmaking or unverified rumours rather than demonstrable hoaxes. North Macedonia’s story is therefore less a catalogue of colourful deceptions than a study in how money, authority, technology and inherited belief can make doubtful claims persuasive.
How Veles sold Americans their own political fantasies
During the final months of the 2016 US election campaign, Veles became associated with scores of websites carrying dramatic pro-Donald Trump stories. Their names and designs often imitated American political or news brands, while their articles were copied from partisan sites, rewritten from existing reports or fabricated outright. Operators then posted the links in politically sympathetic Facebook groups, where engagement generated visits and automated advertising revenue. Researchers later described Veles as an important centre of this production network, with local training and informal mentoring helping website owners learn search optimisation, social-media promotion and advertising techniques.[Cambridge University Press & Assessment]cambridge.orgCambridge University Press & AssessmentThe Macedonian Fake News Industry and the 2016 US…by HC Hughes · 2021 · Cited by 107 — Many of…
The scheme worked because it joined several incentives that rarely appeared together so clearly:
- American audiences supplied the demand. Highly partisan readers were already sharing stories that confirmed their fears or loyalties.
- Facebook supplied rapid distribution. A provocative headline could travel much further than the original website owner’s personal network.
- Advertising systems supplied payment. Operators did not need subscriptions or a loyal readership; they needed clicks.
- Veles supplied capable young publishers in a weak employment market. Website building offered earnings far beyond many ordinary local opportunities.
- The language barrier could be concealed. Articles were frequently copied or lightly modified, while convincing domain names and layouts gave them an American appearance.
One Veles publisher profiled by Wired operated domains that resembled US news organisations and spread a false story claiming Trump had struck an audience member. The publisher said his interest was income rather than the election result; between August and November 2016, his sites reportedly earned nearly US$16,000. Another teenager showed Associated Press reporters his publishing methods and traffic records while explaining that falsehood was more profitable than accurate reporting.[WIRED]wired.comIt follows an 18-year-old named Boris, who dropped out of school to create pro-Trump websites filled with fabricated stories during the 2…
This commercial motive is central to understanding the episode. Calling the Veles operators a unified political propaganda force exaggerates the available evidence. Some content plainly favoured Trump because pro-Trump stories attracted the most profitable audience, but field research found an industry organised substantially around audience demand, advertising and entrepreneurial instruction. The operators were often merchants of attention rather than committed ideologues.[cambridge.org]cambridge.orgCambridge University Press & AssessmentThe Macedonian Fake News Industry and the 2016 US…by HC Hughes · 2021 · Cited by 107 — Many of…
What the Veles story did not prove
Veles became a convenient symbol for the entire crisis of online misinformation, but the town did not create the political divisions its publishers exploited. American partisan outlets, political campaigners, social-media algorithms and readers themselves all participated in the circulation of misleading material.
Nor is there sound evidence that Veles alone decided the 2016 election. Economic research estimated that the average American encountered perhaps one or several false election stories, with exposure and belief varying considerably. The same research found that false pro-Trump stories circulated more widely on Facebook than false pro-Hillary Clinton stories, but it did not establish that Macedonian websites caused the electoral result.[AEA Publications]pubs.aeaweb.orgOne historical example is the “Great. Moon Hoax” of 1835, in which the New York Sun published a series of articles about.Read more…
The distinction matters because the label “Macedonian fake news” could turn a complicated international system into a story about a supposedly deceptive town. Anthropological criticism of the coverage has noted how Veles was sometimes treated as an exotic factory of falsehood while the larger American advertising and media systems that rewarded its publishers received less attention.[Society for Cultural Anthropology]culanth.orgthe fake news mills of macedonia and other liberal panics 1Society for Cultural AnthropologyThe Fake News Mills of Macedonia and Other Liberal Panics25 Apr 2018 — On November 4, 2016, Buzzfeed bro…
The more durable lesson is structural: when platforms reward emotional engagement, advertisers pay by the view and political audiences prefer confirming stories, a publisher thousands of miles away can profit from claims whose truth scarcely matters.
The fake documentary about the fake-news town
In 2021, Norwegian photojournalist Jonas Bendiksen published The Book of Veles, apparently documenting people involved in the North Macedonian town’s misinformation trade. The photographs showed residents with computers in flats and industrial surroundings, sometimes accompanied by bears. The project was promoted through the established language and institutions of documentary photography, including Bendiksen’s reputation as a member and former president of Magnum Photos.[magnumphotos.com]magnumphotos.combook veles jonas bendiksen hoodwinked photography industrybook veles jonas bendiksen hoodwinked photography industry
The people and bears were not real inhabitants captured by the camera. Bendiksen photographed empty locations in Veles and inserted figures constructed from three-dimensional digital models. He also used artificial-intelligence software to generate the introductory text and created a fictitious social-media identity that helped provoke the project’s eventual exposure.[WIRED]wired.comOpen source on wired.com.
Before the revelation, the images were published, exhibited and praised without the deception being detected. They were shown at the Visa pour l’Image photojournalism festival, while a magazine associated with Leica featured the project. Bendiksen later disclosed the fabrication through Magnum, arguing that he wanted to test whether visually experienced professionals were prepared for convincing synthetic documentary imagery.[WIRED]wired.comOpen source on wired.com.
Unlike the anonymous political sites of 2016, this was a deliberate media stunt rather than a secret commercial fraud intended to continue indefinitely. Bendiksen planned an eventual reveal and framed the work as a warning about documentary credibility. Even so, the project raised uncomfortable ethical questions. Festival organisers and viewers had assessed the images through their trust in a respected photographer and institution, not through access to raw files or independent verification. The deception demonstrated that professional prestige can function like a counterfeit watermark: once the audience accepts the source, implausible details may cease to look suspicious.
The title added another layer of forgery. It referred to the so-called Book of Veles, a text presented by its promoters as an ancient record of pre-Christian Slavic history but widely regarded by historians and linguists as a modern fabrication. The literary forgery did not originate in North Macedonia, and its connection to the town is chiefly the shared name. Bendiksen used that coincidence to build a project in which a forged text, a fake-news centre and synthetic documentary images reflected one another.[Magnum Photos]magnumphotos.combook veles jonas bendiksen hoodwinked photography industrybook veles jonas bendiksen hoodwinked photography industry
When public history resembles a hoax
North Macedonia’s most contentious claims about the ancient past do not fit neatly into the category of hoax. The “antiquisation” campaign associated with the government-backed Skopje 2014 redevelopment promoted visual and symbolic links between the modern Macedonian nation and the kingdom of Alexander the Great. Central Skopje acquired monumental statues, classical façades, a triumphal arch and new cultural buildings intended partly to project an older and more imposing national identity.[artmargins.com]artmargins.comtroubles with history skopje 2014troubles with history skopje 2014
Scholars have described antiquisation as a nation-building strategy and a form of politically directed historical mythology. It developed amid the long dispute with Greece over the name “Macedonia”, during which symbols connected with the ancient kingdom carried intense diplomatic and emotional significance. The campaign also drew criticism within the country for its expense, aesthetics and treatment of North Macedonia’s complex Slavic, Albanian, Ottoman, Byzantine and Yugoslav inheritances.[wiley.com]anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.comj.1548 1360.2012.01179.xj.1548 1360.2012.01179.x
It would nevertheless be misleading to call Skopje 2014 simply a hoax. Its monuments were not counterfeit archaeological discoveries, and the project’s political message was displayed openly. The contested element was the historical continuity suggested by its imagery: the impression that a modern nation can be traced straightforwardly and exclusively to the population of an ancient kingdom.
That is better understood as constructed national tradition than as a conventional fraud. Nations commonly select, simplify and monumentalise parts of the past. What makes this case relevant to a history of contested truth is the scale on which disputed historical interpretation was turned into stone, architecture, street names and public ceremony. It shows how an uncertain claim can gain authority not by producing new evidence, but by becoming physically unavoidable.
Forged artefacts, stolen objects and the problem of proof
North Macedonia has a substantial problem with illicit excavation and antiquities trafficking. Archaeological objects and religious icons have been stolen, traded through informal networks and offered online, while police operations have targeted groups accused of digging illegally and preparing objects for sale abroad. In 2021, the authorities reportedly listed 160 stolen archaeological objects and icons with Interpol.[riskbulletins.globalinitiative.net]riskbulletins.globalinitiative.net02 smuggling of antiquities threatens north macedonias cultural heritage02 smuggling of antiquities threatens north macedonias cultural heritage
This environment creates favourable conditions for forgery, but theft and forgery should not be confused. A trafficked object may be genuine, fake, wrongly identified or assembled from genuine and modern components. Once an item has been removed secretly from the ground, much of the information that could authenticate it has already been destroyed. Archaeological context—the exact layer, nearby objects and documented chain of custody—is often more informative than an attractive surface or a seller’s account.
The region’s online artefact-hunting communities also blur distinctions between collecting, looting and imitation. Research covering North Macedonia and neighbouring Balkan states has found that illicit excavators publicly share finds and trading information while forgeries circulate alongside genuine archaeological material.[JCAA]journal.caa-international.orgOpen source on caa-international.org.
For the public, dramatic reports of a “lost royal treasure” or an object “belonging to Alexander” deserve particular caution when they rely on anonymous sellers, secret excavations or patriotic certainty. Reliable authentication normally requires several kinds of evidence working together:
- A documented excavation or ownership history.
- Scientific examination of material, manufacture and ageing.
- Comparison with securely dated objects.
- Publication that allows independent specialists to inspect the claim.
- Clear separation between what the object proves and what its promoters merely hope it proves.
Without those safeguards, a genuine ancient object may be given an invented story, while a recent imitation may be marketed as evidence for a politically attractive past.
Monsters, rumours and stories that outgrow their evidence
Lake Prespa, shared by North Macedonia, Albania and Greece, has occasionally been given its own supposed lake monster. Blurred footage and online retellings describe a long-necked or unusually large creature, sometimes presented as a Balkan counterpart to the Loch Ness Monster. Some accounts suggest a tourist publicity stunt; others propose a large fish, floating material, waves or simple misidentification. There is no strong scientific evidence for an unknown large animal in the lake, and the surviving claims are supported mainly by recycled footage and cryptozoological websites rather than documented investigation.[Cryptid]cryptidz.fandom.comCryptid Prespan lake monsterCryptid Prespan lake monster
The Prespa story is best treated as modern folklore, not as an established hoax with a known perpetrator. No reliable evidence identifies who staged the reported sighting, whether it was staged at all, or precisely what the camera recorded. Its persistence illustrates how a familiar international legend can be relocated: give a lake a shadowy shape, compare it with Loch Ness and allow repetition to supply the missing certainty.
Such stories survive because ambiguity is useful. A clear photograph might reveal a branch, bird, fish or boat wake; a poor image allows every viewer to complete it differently. Local pride, humour and tourism can keep a tale alive even when few people literally believe it. The value of the legend lies partly in telling and retelling it, not in proving a zoological claim.
Why these cases still matter
North Macedonia’s documented deceptions reveal several different ways that doubtful information acquires credibility.
In Veles, the market authenticated the lie: high traffic and advertising income encouraged publishers to repeat whatever attracted attention. In The Book of Veles, professional reputation authenticated synthetic images: the audience trusted the photographer and the institutions around him. In antiquisation, public authority gave disputed history a monumental form. In the antiquities trade, missing provenance allowed sellers to invent stories around objects. Around Lake Prespa, folklore turned ambiguous imagery into an enduring creature.
These episodes should not be collapsed into one accusation about national character. The Veles publishers exploited an international system built by American platforms, advertisers and audiences. Bendiksen was Norwegian, and his photographic deception targeted the global documentary establishment. The ancient-text forgery behind his title arose elsewhere in the Slavic world. Lake Prespa itself crosses three national borders.
What links the stories is not geography alone but a recurring weakness in how people judge claims. Audiences often ask whether a story feels familiar, comes from a trusted authority or agrees with what they already suspect. The harder questions—where the evidence originated, who profits, whether the source can be independently checked and what would disprove the claim—arrive later, after the headline, image, monument or legend has already done its work.
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Endnotes
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Additional References
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