The BBC recently reported on a disturbing tale: An obscure French website published a story claiming that Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, allegedly bought a rare Bugatti Tourbillon sports car for 4.5 million euros ($4.8 million dollars) while visiting Paris for D-Day commemorations in June.

The story was quickly debunked, but it still spread like wildfire on the internet. As it turns out, the fake story originated from a Russia-based disinformation operation, which aims to undermine Ukraine’s government amid the ongoing war between the countries.

Sadly, that’s not the only thing this group is seeking to undermine: It is also sowing disinformation during the U.S. election season.  

The BBC tracked dozens of bogus stories across dozens of news sites with American-sounding names—such as The Houston Post—all of which originated from Moscow.  

The internet, social media and increasingly sophisticated AI are proving a toxic mix for news consumers. It’s in a time like this that the existence of sound local news is so critical. 

Mainstreet Daily News is operated by real people you can see out and about in your community. You can visit our offices off of Tower Road. And you can pick up a copy of our print newspaper at more than 60 locations in Alachua County.  

Not only is Mainstreet real, but the content is really good. We were very pleased to recently accept four statewide awards for our reporting. Each one represented a story that could only come from being deeply rooted in the community—a tribute to the hard work C.J. Gish, Seth Johnson and Glory Reitz have put into building their beats. 

This year’s results add to the awards Mike Ridaught and Ronnie Lovler won last year.   

We don’t work for awards, but still, statewide recognition speaks to the quality of our editorial team and the vital work we’re doing to keep the community informed.  

A prime example: We’re publishing previews of all local races as we approach election season. We’ve already heard from readers who said Mainstreet election previews helped them decide how they wanted to vote.  

If you see value in what Mainstreet brings to Gainesville, would you consider becoming a member? We don’t have a paywall, so we rely on voluntary contributions to help keep our work going.  

Membership comes with some cool perks, but the best one is knowing you’re helping to bring independent, fact-based news to this community. There’s not much cooler than that.