The question then becomes which came first?
The need publish and then quickly “fact check” a demonstrably fake story,
or the fake story itself?
Were the story and the fact check designed together as pure political narrative?
That would be my guess.
The fake site and story following Russian disinfo tactics of flooding the internet with garbage came first.
The need to dispel it followed.
That communist clown Jackson Hinkle claims to earn 7 figures a year. He might of course be lying, but he is well established. He has 2.6 million Twitter/X followers.