CBC News
· collected 2026-09-09 · by Eric Szeto, Jeff Yates, Christian Paas-Lang, Jordan Pearson, Ivan Angelovski
Vietnamese firm targets Canadians with fake AI news for profit, CBC/Rad-Can investigation reveals
‘Totally deceptive’ posts falsely described destruction of U.S. city, stoked religious conflict
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posts → target → conflict
During a corporate party with dancing mascots and pyrotechnics in early 2026, the CEO of HTV Network stood on stage holding a sign in Vietnamese that said "Doanh Thu Đột Phá."
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that → dance → Phá
The CEO, Ngo Anh Tan, had reason to celebrate that night.
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CEO → have → reason
Since launching as an "international media company" that connects the "world with authoritative journalism" almost two years earlier, HTV now had at least 100 employees, according to a Vietnamese job listing.
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HTV → launch → listing
But what the company purports to do contrasts vastly with its true nature, an investigation by CBC’s visual investigations unit and Radio-Canada’s Décrypteurs discovered.
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investigation → purport → unit
Ngo and his team secretly run an AI-slop empire out of Hanoi, Vietnam, polluting social media feeds around the world, targeting users with fake content and sensationalist stories that range from Elon Musk banning Teslas in Canada to clickbait-style posts exploiting the Tumbler Ridge shooting.
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Musk → run → shooting
The team uncovered close to 200 Facebook pages — with more than 55 million followers — that shared links to about 50 HTV-connected websites that generate revenue by running ads, often next to inflammatory or misleading political and religious content.
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that → uncover → content
"It's quite staggering, the scope of what's being done here," said Fenwick McKelvey, a professor specializing in communications at Concordia University in Montreal.
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McKelvey → do → Montreal
"[It’s] totally deceptive."
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It → ’ → ?
HTV Network shares a name with a legitimate, state-owned Vietnamese broadcaster, complicating efforts to trace its activities.
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Network → share → activities
'Everyone wins except for Canadians'
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Everyone → win → Canadians
The model was relatively simple: The company mass-produced AI-generated content — showing, for example, how the "U.S. lost its main city" in an attack by Russian President Vladimir Putin — posted it on one of the Facebook pages they ran and included a hyperlink.
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they → produce → hyperlink
That link would take users to one of HTV's many websites, where ads for things like fungus medication, Bank of Montreal or Nova Scotia tourism would be plastered across the articles.
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ads → take → articles
Ads on websites viewed by CBC were served through third-party platforms, not the companies themselves.
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Ads → view → platforms
The CBC/Radio-Canada analysis revealed that in some cases, the Facebook pages were also monetized.
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pages → reveal → cases
HTV CEO Ngo, through text messages, told CBC/Radio-Canada he didn’t have Facebook pages or websites.
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he → tell → pages
When asked why his phone number matched the one on the HTV website, he said "maybe someone has taken my information."
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someone → ask → information
Corporate records and domain registration documentation also matched Ngo’s personal information.
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records → match → information
Ngo repeatedly denied knowledge of HTV sites or pages.
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Ngo → deny → sites
In response to a written request for comment, Ngo replied, "I don’t understand what you mean."
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you → write → what
The following day, the HTV company website was taken down.
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website → take → ?
Ngo's Facebook profile was made private and many of the digital clues CBC/Radio-Canada used to connect the company to the accounts and websites disappeared.
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Canada → make → accounts
Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory, a joint McGill-University of Toronto project, said that Facebook incentivizes this kind of low-quality, clickable content.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, recently invited users to join its creator program, where money can be made from reels, photos and text posts.
"The way this gets resolved is that there is some cost to Meta for enabling this sort of scam, a real concrete cost … [a] financial penalty," said Bridgman.
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Bridgman → say → scam
"They get engagement on their platform.
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They → get → platform
They get money.
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They → get → money
Everyone wins except for Canadians, Canadian businesses and Canadian democracy."
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Everyone → win → Canadians
Meta did not respond to CBC/Radio-Canada’s request for comment.
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Meta → respond → comment
How we uncovered the network
Using a combination of corporate documents, on-the-ground reporting in Vietnam, and software including DomainTools, Darkside and OSINT Industries, the CBC/Radio-Canada team was able to expose how this network of Facebook pages and websites, which targeted audiences in the U.K., Europe, United States and Canada, is connected to HTV Network.
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which → uncover → Network
It started with a June 2026 report by the Media Ecosystem Observatory investigating "Facebook's News Slop Economy," which identified hundreds of Facebook pages and websites managed out of Vietnam.
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which → start → Vietnam
CBC/Radio-Canada built off that report, discovering a unique email address — containing "kolax9843" — on one of the websites MEO identified.
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MEO → build → websites
That email was the primary contact email for dozens of low-quality, cookie-cutter sites, including one called Autulu.
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email → include → one
Ad-laden articles from that URL in particular were shared by more than 20 Facebook pages, including "Man City Daily News" or "Wonderful World News," with more than 50,000 followers combined.
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articles → share → followers
One verified Facebook page, "Danny Fernandes," named after the Canadian musician, has more than a million followers and has shared posts that included phrases like "how eight million Democrat votes just vanished" or "Kamala stepdaughter suddenly posted a bold message on Trump Inauguration day.
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stepdaughter → name → day
Fernandes did not respond to CBC.
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Fernandes → respond → CBC
"The deeper you dig, the more depressing it gets," said Bridgman.
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Bridgman → dig → ?
"At this scale of followers and number of accounts, this is likely a well-performing business."
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this → perform → accounts
CBC/Radio-Canada discovered another website featuring the "kolax9843" email: the company site for FG Media Corp., which contained a photo showing a group of people standing in front of a sign.
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group → discover → sign
Images posted by HTV employees identified by CBC/Radio-Canada on Facebook and TikTok show a busy office, and the company frequently posted ads on Facebook for content marketing jobs paying up to more than double the average yearly salary in Vietnam.
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company → post → Vietnam
One HTV Network employee, on their personal Facebook page, even posted a photo of them at work.
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employee → post → work
On a computer in the background of the photo, a web browser shows the employee is logged in as a manager for a Facebook page called "I Love Rugby - Kelce."
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I → show → Kelce
…and 17 more, not listed.
