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HuffPost (The Huffington Post until 2017, itself often abbreviated as HPo) is an American progressive[1][2][3] news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy, healthy eating, young women's interests, and local news featuring columnists.[4] It was created to provide a progressive alternative to conservative news websites such as the Drudge Report.[5][6] The site contains its own content and user-generated content via video blogging, audio, and photo.[7] In 2012, the website became the first commercially run United States digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize.[8]

Key Information

Founded by Arianna Huffington, Andrew Breitbart, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti,[6][9] the site was launched on May 9, 2005, as a counterpart to the Drudge Report.[10] In March 2011, it was acquired by AOL for US$315 million, with Arianna Huffington appointed editor-in-chief.[11][12] In June 2015, Verizon Communications acquired AOL for US$4.4 billion, and the site became a part of Verizon Media.[13] In November 2020, BuzzFeed acquired the company.[14] Weeks after the acquisition, BuzzFeed laid off 47 HuffPost staff, mostly journalists, in the U.S.[15] and closed down HuffPost Canada, laying off 23 staff working for the Canadian and Quebec divisions of the company.[16]

History

[edit]

The Huffington Post was launched on May 9, 2005, as a commentary outlet, blog, and an alternative to news aggregators such as the Drudge Report.[17][18][3] It was founded by Arianna Huffington, Andrew Breitbart, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti.[6] Prior to this, Arianna Huffington hosted the website Ariannaonline.com. Her first foray into the Internet was the website Resignation.com, which called for the resignation of President Bill Clinton and was a rallying place for conservatives opposing Clinton.[19]

An early Huffington Post strategy was crafting search-engine optimized (SEO) stories and headlines based around trending keywords, such as "What Time Is the Super Bowl?"[20]

In August 2006, The Huffington Post raised a $5 million Series A round from SoftBank Capital and Greycroft.[21]

In December 2008, The Huffington Post raised $25 million from Oak Investment Partners at a $100 million valuation and Fred Harman of Oak Investment Partners joined its board of directors.[22][23][24] The money was to be used for technology, infrastructure, investigative journalism, and development of local versions.[25][26]

In June 2009, Eric Hippeau, co-managing partner of Softbank Capital, became CEO of The Huffington Post.[27]

In January 2011, The Huffington Post received 35% of its traffic from web search engines (SEOs), compared to 20% at CNN.[28] This strategy appealed to AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, who tried to implement similar SEO-driven journalism practices at AOL at the time of its acquisition of The Huffington Post.[29][30][28]

In March 2011, AOL acquired The Huffington Post for US$315 million.[31][32] As part of the deal, Huffington became president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post and existing AOL properties Engadget, TechCrunch, Moviefone, MapQuest, Black Voices, PopEater (now subpage on the HuffPost Entertainment subpage), AOL Music, AOL Latino (now HuffPost Voices), AutoBlog, Patch, and StyleList.[12]

In December 2011, The Huffington Post said it had 36.2 million unique visitors.[33]

The Huffington Post subsumed many of AOL's Voices properties, including AOL Black Voices, which was established in 1995 as Blackvoices.com, and AOL Latino, Impact (launched in 2010 as a partnership between Huffington Post and Causecast), Women, Teen, College, Religion, and the Spanish-language Voces (en español). The Voices brand was expanded in September 2011 with the launch of Gay Voices, dedicated to LGBT-relevant articles.[34][35]

By late 2013, the website operated as a "stand-alone business" within AOL, taking control of more of its own business and advertising operations, and directing more effort towards securing "premium advertising".[36]

In June 2015, Verizon Communications acquired AOL for US$4.4 billion and the site became a part of Verizon Media.[13]

Huffington resigned to pursue other ventures and was succeeded as editor-in-chief by Lydia Polgreen in December 2016.[37]

In April 2017,[38] Polgreen announced the company would rebrand, changing its official full name to HuffPost,[39] with changes to the design of its website and logo, and content and reporting.[40][41]

On January 24, 2019, 20 employees were laid off as a part of Verizon Media laying off 7% of its staff.[42] The opinion and health sections were eliminated. Pulitzer Prize finalist Jason Cherkis lost his job.[43]

On March 6, 2020, Polgreen announced that she would step down as editor-in-chief to become the head of content at Gimlet Media.[44]

In November 2020, HuffPost shut down its India operation after six years. According to some media reports, the acquisition did not include the India site due to regulations barring foreign ownership of Indian Digital Media.[45]

On February 16, 2021, BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost from Verizon Media in a stock deal.[14][46] On March 9, 2021, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said that the company had lost "around $20 million" during the previous year, and HuffPost Canada was shut down and ceased publishing.[47] On April 12, 2021, Danielle Belton became editor-in-chief.[48]

Following the gradual shut-down of BuzzFeed News announced in 2023, BuzzFeed, Inc. refocused its news efforts into HuffPost, with plans to rehire past BuzzFeed News employees at HuffPost or at BuzzFeed.[49][50]

Local editions

[edit]
  • In spring 2007, the first local version, HuffPost Chicago, was launched.[51]
  • In June 2009, HuffPost New York was launched.[52]
  • HuffPost Denver launched on September 15, 2009.[53][54]
  • HuffPost Los Angeles launched on December 2, 2009.[55][56]
  • HuffPost San Francisco launched on July 12, 2011.[57]
  • HuffPost Detroit launched on November 17, 2011.[58][59]
  • HuffPost Miami launched in November 2011.[60][61]
  • HuffPost Hawaii was launched in collaboration with the online investigative reporting and public affairs news service Honolulu Civil Beat on September 4, 2013.[62][63]

International editions

[edit]
  • On May 26, 2011, HuffPost Canada, the first international edition, was launched.[64] Following BuzzFeed's acquisition of HuffPost, it was announced on March 9, 2021, that HuffPost Canada would stop publishing content and cease operations the following week as part of a broader restructuring plan for the company.[65][66]
  • On July 6, 2011, Huffington Post UK was launched.[67]
  • On January 23, 2012, The Huffington Post, in partnership with Le Monde and Les Nouvelles Editions Indépendantes, launched Le Huffington Post, a French-language edition and the first in a non-English speaking country.[68]
  • On February 8, 2012, Le Huffington Post Québec (a.k.a. HuffPost Québec), a French language edition, was launched in Canada's primarily French-speaking province, Quebec.[69]
  • On May 1, 2012, a U.S.-based Spanish-language edition was launched under the name HuffPost Voces, replacing AOL Latino.[70]
  • In June 2012, the edition in Spain, El Huffington Post (later ElHuffPost), was launched.[71]
  • On May 6, 2013, an edition for Japan, ハフポスト (HuffPost Japan), was launched with the collaboration of Asahi Shimbun, the first edition in an Asian country.[72]
  • On September 24, 2013, an Italian edition, L'Huffington Post, was launched, directed by journalist Lucia Annunziata in collaboration with the media company Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso.[73]
  • In June 2013, Al Huffington Post, the third francophone edition, launched for the Maghreb French area.[74] On December 3, 2019, the Maghreb edition was closed.[75]
  • On October 10, 2013, Munich-based Huffington Post Deutschland was launched in co-operation with the liberal-conservative magazine Focus, covering German-speaking Europe.[76] On January 11, 2018, it was announced that the German language edition would shut down on March 31, 2018.[77]
  • In January 2014, Arianna Huffington and Nicolas Berggruen announced the launch of the WorldPost, created in partnership with the Berggruen Institute.[78] Its contributors have included former British prime minister Tony Blair, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, novelist Jonathan Franzen, and musician Yo-Yo Ma.[79]
  • On January 29, 2014, the Brazilian version was launched as Brasil Post, in partnership with Grupo Abril, the first in Latin America.[80] Brasil Post was later renamed Huffington Post Brasil in 2015,[81] then HuffPost Brasil. In November 2020, the edition was closed down following BuzzFeed's acquisition.[82]
  • In February 2014, a Korean language edition was launched in South Korea in partnership with the local center-left newspaper The Hankyoreh.[83]
  • In September 2014, planned launches were announced for sites for Greece, India, as well HuffPost Arabi, an Arabic version of the website.[84][85]
  • On August 18, 2015, HuffPost Australia was launched.[86]
  • On November 21, 2016, HuffPost South Africa, the brand's first sub-Saharan edition, was launched in partnership with Media24.[87] The South African edition stopped when the partnership with Media24 ended in 2018.[87]

Contributor network

[edit]

The site originally published work from both paid reporters and unpaid bloggers through its contributor network.[88]

In February 2011, Visual Art Source, which had been cross-posting material from its website, went on strike against The Huffington Post to protest against its writers not being paid.[89][90] In March 2011, the strike and the call to boycott was joined and endorsed by the National Writers Union and NewsGuild-CWA; however, the boycott was dropped in October 2011.[91]

In April 2011, The Huffington Post was targeted with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by Jonathan Tasini on behalf of thousands of bloggers who had submitted material to the website.[33][92] On March 30, 2012, the suit was dismissed with prejudice by the court, holding that the bloggers had volunteered their services, their compensation being publication.[33]

The practice of publishing blog posts from unpaid contributors ended in January 2018. This transformed the site, which had become notable for featuring extensive sections in a broad range of subjects from a significant number of contributors.[93] Contributors had included:

Criticism and controversy

[edit]

Alternative medicine and anti-vaccination controversy

[edit]

HuffPost has been criticized for providing a platform for alternative medicine and supporters of vaccine hesitancy, including in a detailed critique in 2009 by physician and author Rahul Parikh.[159] In 2020, biology professor and founder of the science blog Pharyngula addressed hesitancy and other issues.[160] Steven Novella, president of the New England Skeptical Society, criticized The Huffington Post for allowing homeopathy proponent Dana Ullman to have a blog on the site.[161] In 2011, skeptic Brian Dunning listed it at No. 10 on his "Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites" list.[162]

Anne Sinclair appointed editorial director in France

[edit]

In January 2012, The Huffington Post was criticized for appointing as editorial director in France the well-known former TV journalist Anne Sinclair, because she stood by her husband Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former IMF head, when several women accused him of sexual assault. Commentators at l'Express, Rue89, and Le Monde warned against potential conflict of interest in the French edition's news coverage.[163]

Apology by the South African edition

[edit]

In April 2017, HuffPost South Africa was directed by the press ombudsman to apologize unreservedly for publishing and later defending a column calling for disenfranchisement of white men, which was declared malicious, inaccurate and discriminatory hate speech.[164][165]

Jeffrey Epstein

[edit]

In July 2019, HuffPost was criticized for publishing a story written by Rachel Wolfson, a publicist, that praised financier Jeffrey Epstein, a sex offender. Editors later removed the article at the author's request.[166]

Political stance

[edit]

HuffPost has been seen as a mostly progressive, liberal or liberal-leaning outlet,[167] being described as such by the BBC,[1] CNN,[2] and Politico.[3] Upon becoming the editor-in-chief in December 2016, Lydia Polgreen said that the "wave of intolerance and bigotry that seems to be sweeping the globe" after the election as US president of Donald Trump was remarkable, and that The Huffington Post had an "absolutely indispensable role to play in this era in human history."[37]

Commenting in 2012 on increased conservative engagement on the website despite its reputation as a liberal news source, The Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington stated that her website was "increasingly seen" as an Internet newspaper that is "not positioned ideologically in terms of how we cover the news".[168] According to Michael Steel, press secretary for Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, Republican aides "engage with liberal websites like The Huffington Post [anyway, if for] no other reason than [because] they drive a lot of cable coverage".[168] Jon Bekken, journalism professor at Suffolk University, has cited it as an example of an "advocacy newspaper".[169] The Wall Street Journal editor James Taranto has mockingly referred to it as the "Puffington Host", while Rush Limbaugh referred to it as the "Huffing and Puffington Post".[170]

2016 U.S. presidential election

[edit]

During the 2016 United States presidential election, HuffPost regularly appended an editor's note to the end of stories about candidate Donald Trump, reading: "Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims—1.6 billion members of an entire religion—from entering the U.S." After Trump was elected on November 8, 2016, HuffPost ended this practice to "give respect to the office of the presidency."[171][172]

Awards

[edit]
  • Won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 in the category of national reporting for senior military correspondent David Wood's Beyond the Battlefield, a 10-part series about wounded veterans.[173][174]
  • 2010 "People's Voice" winner in the 14th Webby Awards. The Huffington Post lost the 2010 Webby Award jury prize for "Best Political Blog" to Truthdig.[175]
  • Peabody Award in 2010 for "Trafficked: A Youth Radio Investigation".[176]
  • Named second among the "25 Best Blogs of 2009" by Time.[177]
  • Won the 2006 and 2007 Webby Awards for "Best Politics Blog".[178]
  • Contributor Bennet Kelley was awarded the Los Angeles Press Club's 2007 Southern California Journalism Award for Online Commentary for political commentary published on the site.[179]
  • Ranked the most powerful blog in the world by The Observer in 2008.[180][177]
  • Co-founder Arianna Huffington ranked 12th in the 2009 list of the "Most Influential Women in Media" by Forbes.[181] She was ranked 42nd in the 2009 Top 100 in Media List by The Guardian.[182]
  • Nominated in 2015 for the "Responsible Media of the Year" award at the British Muslim Awards.[183]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

HuffPost

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
HuffPost, originally launched as The Huffington Post, is an American digital news and opinion platform established on May 9, 2005, by , , , and , focusing on aggregating posts and commentary alongside news coverage across politics, entertainment, and lifestyle topics. The outlet pioneered a model blending professional with , rapidly gaining prominence as a counter to perceived conservative dominance in traditional media following the 2004 U.S. presidential election. In 2011, AOL acquired HuffPost for $315 million, integrating it into a broader digital portfolio before subsequent ownership shifts to Verizon Media and, in 2020, , under which it continued operations amid industry challenges, including staff reductions and a pivot toward contributor-driven content. Despite achieving milestones such as multiple regional awards, including three Los Angeles Press Club honors in 2025, HuffPost has faced persistent for its left-biased editorial slant, with analyses rating it as strongly favoring progressive viewpoints in story selection and framing, often critiquing conservatives while downplaying similar of left-leaning figures or policies. This perspective aligns with broader patterns of ideological skew in mainstream , where empirical assessments highlight selective reporting that prioritizes narrative over balanced factual presentation, contributing to polarized public discourse. HuffPost's influence peaked in the through viral aggregation and opinion-driven content but has been hampered by accusations of , reliance on unpaid contributors, and inconsistent factual rigor, as evidenced by mixed reliability ratings from media watchdogs.

Founding and Early Development

Establishment and Initial Launch (2005)

The Huffington Post was founded on May 9, 2005, by , , , and as an online platform designed to aggregate progressive blogs and opinion pieces, explicitly aiming to challenge the influence of conservative-leaning media outlets in the wake of Democrat John Kerry's defeat in the U.S. . The site's launch capitalized on dissatisfaction among liberal commentators with mainstream coverage, positioning itself as a hub for unfiltered, user-contributed content that emphasized partisan critique over neutral analysis. From its inception, the platform prioritized political commentary targeting the George W. Bush administration's policies, including sharp opposition to the Iraq War—framed by early contributors as an unnecessary and mismanaged conflict—and advocacy for Democratic policy alternatives, which helped it quickly amass a dedicated readership through email sharing and early social media virality. Within months of launch, the site drew millions of unique visitors, fueled by its model of soliciting free posts from prominent left-leaning bloggers and celebrities, which bypassed traditional gatekeeping and amplified echo-chamber dynamics in online discourse. This approach reflected a first-mover strategy in digital aggregation, where volume of opinion trumped depth of verification, setting it apart from established news organizations. Technically, the early Huffington Post operated on a rudimentary akin to blogging tools like , enabling easy aggregation of external links, embedded videos, and short-form posts rather than investing in original investigative reporting or robust infrastructure. This lightweight setup facilitated rapid scaling but relied heavily on volunteer contributors, with initial content comprising curated snippets from progressive sources and Huffington's own syndicated columns, establishing the aggregation model that defined its first year.

Key Founders and Early Contributors

Arianna Huffington served as the primary driving force behind HuffPost's creation, co-founding the site on May 9, 2005, alongside , , and , with her role evolving to until 2016. Originally a conservative commentator in the , associated with figures like , Huffington shifted leftward in the late , opposing the and running as an independent candidate in California's 2003 gubernatorial , which informed her vision for a liberal-leaning aggregator challenging conservative outlets like the . She leveraged her celebrity network to secure high-profile endorsements and contributors, prioritizing visibility through fame over traditional journalistic credentials. Kenneth Lerer provided business acumen, drawing from his advertising background to structure the site's early operations and revenue model. contributed expertise in viral content mechanics, informed by his prior work on experiments like the Nike sweatshop email that gained traction, later applying similar principles at after departing HuffPost shortly after launch. , a conservative operative with experience at the , handled early aggregation and syndication efforts but departed around 2007 to found , citing the site's increasing marginalization of conservative perspectives amid its pivot toward liberal commentary. Huffington recruited an initial cadre of unpaid celebrity bloggers to amplify reach, including , , , and , establishing a content model reliant on star power for traffic rather than compensated professional reporting. This approach, which eschewed payments to contributors, drew early criticism for prioritizing aggregation and opinion from influencers over rigorous sourcing, setting a precedent for HuffPost's growth through high-visibility, ideologically aligned voices.

Ownership and Corporate Evolution

AOL Acquisition and Integration (2011)

On February 7, 2011, AOL announced its acquisition of The Huffington Post for $315 million, consisting of approximately $300 million in cash and the remainder in stock, marking the site's transition from independent operation to corporate ownership. This deal valued the site at 6.3 times its projected 2011 revenue of about $50 million, reflecting AOL's strategy to leverage HuffPost's audience growth amid its own declining traditional user base. Arianna Huffington was retained as president and editor-in-chief of the newly formed Huffington Post Media Group, which integrated HuffPost with AOL's existing content properties, including Engadget and Moviefone, to consolidate editorial oversight under her leadership. The integration sought to capitalize on digital traffic synergies, with HuffPost's engaged readership—averaging longer session times and more page views per visitor—expected to enhance 's overall portfolio metrics by adding substantial incremental usage. aimed to diversify beyond by expanding HuffPost's sections into , , and other non-political verticals, aligning with corporate goals for broader advertiser appeal and streams rather than the site's original aggregation-focused model. This shift injected significant capital for scaling operations and international growth but prioritized 's profit-oriented structure, which emphasized programmatic content and traffic optimization over the unpaid, contributor network that had built the site's initial value. The acquisition prompted immediate backlash from HuffPost's unpaid bloggers, who argued it exemplified exploitation, as the $315 million proceeds accrued primarily to Huffington and investors despite years of free labor driving traffic and content volume. Critics, including former contributors, launched petitions and public accusations of "greed and exploitation," highlighting how the site's of volunteer-driven aggregation had enabled without compensating those who generated its core appeal, a tension unresolved by the deal's terms. Subsequent legal challenges by bloggers seeking a share of the sale failed, underscoring the corporate prioritization of ownership equity over contributor equity in the integration process.

Subsequent Changes Under Verizon and BuzzFeed (2010s–2020s)

In June 2015, Verizon Communications acquired AOL, HuffPost's owner since 2011, for $4.4 billion in cash, placing the site under the telecom conglomerate's Verizon Media division. This shift introduced corporate oversight from a non-media entity focused on telecommunications and advertising synergies, with Verizon aiming to leverage AOL's properties—including HuffPost—for programmatic ad sales and audience data integration amid rising mobile traffic demands. However, the arrangement highlighted tensions between editorial independence and telecom-driven monetization priorities, as Verizon's broader media portfolio faced scrutiny over content costs and investment needs. By November 2020, amid mounting losses in its media assets, Verizon Media sold to in an all-stock transaction for an undisclosed sum, retaining a minority stake in the acquiring company. The deal, which closed amid digital ad market disruptions from regulations and platform shifts, resulted in a $119 million impairment charge for Verizon in the fourth quarter of 2020. Under 's ownership, integrated into a portfolio emphasizing viral content and syndication partnerships, including ongoing content distribution across Verizon's Yahoo properties to sustain traffic. This move aligned with 's scalable, audience-optimized model but exposed it to the parent's vulnerabilities in a contracting landscape. Post-acquisition, BuzzFeed implemented cost-cutting measures, including 47 U.S. layoffs at HuffPost and the closure of its Canadian edition in March 2021, less than four months after the deal. Further reductions followed, with BuzzFeed's April 2023 shutdown of its unprofitable division leading to 180 company-wide layoffs, though HuffPost absorbed select roles while achieving profitability that year through streamlined operations. In early 2025, additional cuts targeted HuffPost specifically, including 30 editorial positions announced in January and a 5% reduction in February projected to save $4 million annually, reflecting persistent pressures from declining programmatic ad rates, changes, and advertiser pullbacks. Despite these challenges, HuffPost marked its 20th anniversary in May 2025 with a refreshed , volunteer initiatives like "HuffPost Helps Day," and public emphasis on its legacy in digital-first journalism. Operating under BuzzFeed's umbrella, the site continued prioritizing opinion-driven aggregation and syndication, though financial sustainability remained strained by broader industry contractions in traffic-dependent revenue models.

Editorial Practices and Content Production

Blog Aggregation to Professional Journalism Shift

In its formative years, HuffPost primarily functioned as an aggregator of syndicated blog posts and opinion pieces from a network of contributors, emphasizing volume and diverse viewpoints over in-depth original reporting. This model relied on curating external content to drive traffic, with minimal initial investment in professional verification processes. The 2011 acquisition by for $315 million catalyzed a partial transition, prompting HuffPost to build original reporting teams and expand into structured sections, blending aggregation with staff-produced articles to appeal to broader advertiser interests. Despite this evolution, the platform retained its aggregation foundation, frequently intermingling unvetted contributor opinions with summaries, which prioritized rapid content output for engagement metrics over rigorous . Such practices inherently risked factual inconsistencies, as the hybrid approach often subordinated verification to the demands of high-volume publishing. Arianna Huffington's editorial philosophy further shaped this shift, advocating for content that maximized "impact" by challenging what she termed "false neutrality" in traditional media, instead favoring assertive truth-telling aligned with empirical realities over balanced . This directive encouraged a focus on provocative, audience-resonant pieces, sustaining an opinion-heavy ecosystem even as professional elements were incorporated. By the mid-2010s, the site generated over 1,200 posts daily, reflecting a production model where scale often eclipsed depth, contributing to documented challenges in maintaining consistent accuracy amid the aggregation-news fusion.

Contributor Network and Compensation Model

HuffPost's contributor network expanded rapidly, reaching over 100,000 participants by , comprising bloggers from , , and academia, including both celebrities and non-professional amateurs. The platform operated with minimal , relying on basic pitch submissions that included story outlines, working headlines, and bios rather than rigorous credential checks or fact-verification protocols. This low-barrier entry scaled content production and traffic—contributors generated about 15% of the site's monthly audience—but causally linked to quality dilution, as the volume of amateur submissions overwhelmed editorial resources, enabling unchecked biases and to proliferate alongside professional output. Prior to the 2011 AOL acquisition, contributors received no compensation, even as their posts drove the site's value to a $315 million sale price. This unpaid model sparked multiple lawsuits alleging labor exploitation, including a 2011 class-action suit by bloggers seeking $105 million in proceeds from the AOL deal, which a federal court dismissed in 2012 on grounds that contributions did not confer ownership rights. Ethically, the practice drew criticism for profiting from unremunerated work under the guise of exposure, highlighting a broader dynamic where platforms extracted value from volunteer labor without reciprocal payment. After the purchase, HuffPost hired more paid staff to bolster professional journalism, yet the contributor and freelance model endured, with many posts remaining unpaid until the network's shutdown in 2018, when the site committed to compensating all submissions. Freelance rates stayed modest, often starting at $150 per article for certain sections, which, relative to production costs and market standards, fostered contributor churn as writers migrated to higher-paying outlets. Low per-piece incentives structurally encouraged rushed, volume-oriented content over depth, perpetuating superficiality and editorial inconsistencies even as the model transitioned toward partial professionalization.

Business Model and Revenue Strategies

Clickbait and Sensational Headlines

HuffPost extensively utilized SEO-optimized headlines designed to evoke strong emotions or curiosity, such as forward-referencing formats like "You'll Never Believe What Happens Next," to capitalize on algorithms and sharing dynamics. This approach propelled the site to extraordinary traffic levels, achieving 1 billion pageviews in August 2011 alone, with 37 million unique visitors and over 5 million comments that month. Such provocative titling re-packaged aggregated content with enticing hooks, prioritizing virality over depth to generate shares and clicks across platforms. Analytics-driven strategies further refined this model, with HuffPost employing to test and iterate headlines for maximum initial , as evidenced by internal optimizations that correlated specific phrasing with surges. Third-party tools like Chartbeat, used by the outlet for audience metrics, highlighted how sensational formats outperformed neutral ones in click-through rates, though sustained reading times lagged on less hyperbolic pieces. This disparity underscored a focus on volume over retention, directly fueling ad through elevated and CPMs in a display advertising reliant on scale. Critics, including media analysts, lambasted these tactics as akin to , arguing they misled audiences and eroded public trust by promising revelations that often underdelivered substantive value. HuffPost leadership conceded the pitfalls, with executives noting that while yielded short-term traffic gains—instrumental in the site's $315 million sale to in February 2011—it risked long-term reputational damage and advertiser alienation amid perceptions of low-quality content. The strategy's emphasis on high-volume, low-depth output thus maximized programmatic ad yields but invited scrutiny for compromising journalistic integrity in pursuit of metrics.

Advertising and Traffic-Driven Growth

HuffPost's expansion in the was significantly propelled by programmatic advertising and native sponsorships, which integrated seamlessly into feeds to maximize user and revenue. Native ad formats, introduced as early as 2010 through sponsored posts, saw explosive growth, with revenues increasing 347% from Q2 2013 to Q2 2014, often combining custom articles with display ads from sponsors. This model capitalized on high traffic volumes, particularly from social platforms like , where shares and interactions drove page views essential for ad impressions; publishers including HuffPost derived substantial portions of their audience from such referrals during peak years. The 2018 Facebook algorithm shift, prioritizing personal interactions over content, precipitated a sharp decline in referral traffic for ad-dependent outlets like HuffPost, undermining the viability of traffic-reliant streams. This change reduced visibility in feeds, with social referrals to sites dropping nearly 50% by 2023 compared to 2020 levels, compelling diversification into and viral content to sustain ad dollars through broader appeal. Despite these efforts, unique visitor metrics eroded post-2020 amid rising competition from podcasts, newsletters, and algorithmically altered search behaviors; for instance, HuffPost's monthly visits fell 23% year-over-year to 44 million by September 2025, per traffic analytics. This ad-centric approach inherently favored quantifiable metrics like click-through rates over substantive reporting, fostering sensational headlines and to boost , which critics argue normalized left-leaning exaggerations under the guise of . Empirical analyses highlight HuffPost's pattern of inflammatory framing in headlines, prioritizing virality for ad revenue over balanced inquiry, a causal where short-term profitability eroded long-term amid audience fragmentation. Such practices, while effective for growth in traffic-saturated eras, amplified biases inherent in metric-driven incentives, as outlets chased impressions rather than empirical rigor.

Political Orientation and Bias

Documented Liberal Slant and Empirical Evidence

AllSides rates HuffPost as having a Left media bias, with high confidence affirmed by multiple blind bias reviews conducted as of October 2025. Media Bias/Fact Check classifies it as Left-Biased due to consistent story selection and editorial positions favoring liberal perspectives, while assigning a Mixed factual reporting rating based on numerous failed fact checks, use of unverified sources, and promotion of misleading narratives. Ad Fontes Media positions HuffPost on its Media Bias Chart with a left bias score in the negative range (indicating strong left-leaning tendencies) and moderate reliability, derived from analyst ratings of article language, sourcing, and factual accuracy across hundreds of samples. Audience demographics further evidence this slant. A 2014 study determined that 59% of HuffPost readers exhibit consistently or mostly liberal political values, compared to just 12% who are consistently or mostly conservative. More recent data from 2025 confirms that individuals regularly consuming HuffPost content are disproportionately liberal and Democratic, with minimal crossover to conservative or Republican identifiers. Content analyses highlight systematic framing biases. AllSides evaluations document HuffPost's frequent employment of and negative descriptors in coverage of conservative politicians and policies, appearing in the majority of such articles reviewed, alongside sensational headlines designed to amplify progressive interpretations. These patterns manifest as selective omission of empirical counter-evidence, such as downplaying data challenging dominant narratives on topics like or impacts, prioritizing ideological alignment over comprehensive causal examination of outcomes. Independent raters like and , which employ diverse reviewer panels to mitigate subjective bias, underscore these tendencies as deviations from neutral reporting standards.

Coverage of Major U.S. Elections and Events

In July 2015, HuffPost announced it would cover Donald Trump's presidential campaign primarily through its entertainment section, framing it as a "sideshow" rather than legitimate , with an editor's note appended to related articles describing Trump as a "serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther." This approach persisted until Trump's election on November 8, 2016, after which HuffPost discontinued the editor's note and shifted coverage toward portraying his administration as a to institutions, often emphasizing "resistance" narratives and policy reversals on issues like and environmental regulations. Prior to the Mueller report's release on March 24, , HuffPost published extensive content alleging coordination between the Trump campaign and interference in the 2016 , including articles on potential scandals involving campaign figures like and , often citing anonymous sources and intelligence assessments. The special counsel's findings, however, stated there was insufficient evidence that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with to influence the , though it detailed efforts to interfere via hacking and . Critics from conservative outlets argued this pre-report emphasis amplified unverified claims, contributing to partisan polarization, while defenders maintained it reflected of foreign meddling substantiated by U.S. intelligence agencies. During the 2020 election cycle, HuffPost coverage of reports on Hunter Biden's laptop, first detailed by the on October 14, 2020, focused on questioning the story's provenance, suggesting it stemmed from Russian disinformation operations, and highlighting ties between the reporting and Trump allies like . This aligned with a public letter from over 50 former intelligence officials on October 19, 2020, who described the laptop narrative as having "all the classic earmarks of a Russian operation," though subsequent FBI confirmation of the laptop's authenticity in 2022 raised questions about premature dismissal. Such framing has drawn accusations of selective scrutiny, downplaying potential conflicts involving Democratic figures while amplifying those tied to Republicans, fostering perceptions of uneven accountability. Analyses of broader media patterns, including outlets like HuffPost, indicate that post-2016 coverage often prioritized narrative consistency over balanced sourcing, with empirical data showing U.S. trust in media falling to a record low of 28% by September 2025 per Gallup polling, driven largely by Republican distrust dropping to single digits after the election. Proponents of the coverage style contend it serves as a check on executive overreach, citing Trump's 30,573 false or misleading claims tracked by The Washington Post during his presidency as justification for adversarial reporting. Detractors, including media watchdogs, view it as reinforcing ideological echo chambers, where empirical verification lags behind advocacy, evidenced by the Mueller report's non-finding on collusion despite years of intensive promotion.

International Expansion

Launch of Local and Global Editions

HuffPost initiated its expansion into U.S. local editions in the late 2000s, beginning with HuffPost in June 2007, followed by HuffPost New York in June 2009 and HuffPost in September 2009. These editions aimed to deliver hyper-local content infused with the site's progressive editorial voice, targeting urban audiences through aggregated blogs and opinion pieces tailored to regional issues. The international rollout commenced in 2011 under the direct involvement of founder , with HuffPost UK launching on July 6 and HuffPost Canada earlier that year. This was followed by Le Huffington Post in on January 23, 2012, in partnership with local publisher Les Nouvelles Editions Indépendantes, and subsequent editions in and that year. The strategy emphasized localization by collaborating with established regional media partners to adapt the U.S. model's blend of news aggregation, contributor-driven commentary, and emphasis on themes to appeal to liberal-leaning demographics abroad. By 2015, the network had grown to editions in 14 additional markets, prioritizing content that mirrored the parent site's focus on , , and wellness from a progressive lens. Adaptations faced hurdles, including cultural and political mismatches; for instance, the appointment of —former television host and wife of disgraced politician —as editorial director for the French edition in January sparked debate over her selection amid her personal scandals, potentially alienating audiences expecting journalistic detachment. Outcomes varied, with inconsistent growth exposing limits in scaling the opinion-heavy format internationally; several editions, such as (closed March 2019), and (November 2020), and others including the national operation (2021), were shuttered due to financial underperformance and post-acquisition restructuring by Verizon Media and . This pattern underscored challenges in transplanting a U.S.-centric, -reliant model to diverse regulatory and reader environments.

Challenges in Non-U.S. Markets

In November 2020, shortly after BuzzFeed's acquisition of HuffPost, the company closed its editions in and , citing operational restructuring and the need to focus resources on core markets. These closures followed years of expansion efforts but highlighted persistent financial underperformance, with international sites generating insufficient revenue to sustain independent operations amid declining ad markets and platform algorithm changes. By March , further cuts included the full shutdown of , affecting 23 Canadian staff, alongside reductions in the UK and , where national news teams were merged or downsized to cut costs. metrics underscored these issues; for instance, HuffPost UK's audience of approximately 11 million monthly unique users in 2017 was disproportionately urban and London-based, reflecting limited penetration into rural or conservative demographics compared to the U.S. site's broader reach. Local competitors, such as established broadcasters and print outlets tailored to regional priorities, captured higher loyalty and traffic, exacerbating sustainability gaps. Efforts to impose U.S.-centric progressive editorial standards on local issues often triggered resistance, as content prioritizing global ideological frames over context-specific realities alienated audiences outside liberal enclaves. In South Africa, for example, HuffPost's coverage of farm attacks emphasized national crime rates and rejected narratives of targeted violence against white farmers, framing concerns as exaggerated rather than addressing empirical data on disproportionate rural victimization rates. This approach, consistent with the outlet's documented left-leaning bias, clashed with local stakeholders' perceptions, contributing to lower trust and engagement in markets where such topics demanded nuanced, evidence-based handling without preconceived dismissal. Similarly, in the UK, post-Brexit coverage aligned with Remain-leaning critiques faced skepticism from Leave voters, limiting appeal amid a polarized populace less receptive to imported sensationalism. These dynamics revealed the model's dependence on ideologically aligned bubbles, with causal factors including unadapted content strategies that prioritized viral U.S.-style advocacy over local causal analyses of issues like economic inequality or security threats.

Major Controversies

Unpaid Labor and Blogger Exploitation Claims

In February 2011, acquired The Huffington Post for $315 million, prompting backlash from unpaid contributors who argued their gratis labor had generated the site's value. On April 12, 2011, freelance writer Jonathan Tasini filed a class-action in U.S. District Court in on behalf of thousands of uncompensated bloggers, seeking over $105 million in damages for alleged "unjust enrichment" and unfair profiting from their without compensation or equity. Tasini likened the operation to a " of bloggers" under Arianna Huffington's control, claiming contributors' work—estimated at thousands of posts from over 9,000 individuals—drove traffic and ad revenue that underpinned the lucrative sale. The site's model exemplified early digital media's reliance on extractive unpaid labor, where contributors provided content aggregating to roughly 15.6 million weekday page views by early , scaling to over 35 million monthly unique visitors by mid-year, primarily through and viral sharing rather than paid editorial. This volunteer-driven aggregation masked profit motives behind an "underdog" narrative of , yet economically, it captured asymmetric value: bloggers bore production costs without shares in the $315 million payout, while the platform monetized their output via display ads yielding high multiples on . Huffington defended the practice as a "passion project" offering exposure and platform access in lieu of pay, asserting contributors knowingly participated for visibility to broader audiences, a form of non-monetary exchange common in ideological blogging. Critics, particularly from libertarian and conservative perspectives, highlighted anti-capitalist in a left-leaning outlet profiting from unremunerated IP akin to "digital ," arguing it undermined fair labor markets by devaluing professional . Progressive defenders countered that such volunteerism mirrored unpaid in causes like or civil rights, where exposure amplified influence beyond financial gain, though showed minimal reciprocal back to bloggers' own sites. The lawsuit was dismissed on March 30, 2012, with Judge ruling that contributors had accepted the unpaid terms explicitly, lacking enforceable expectations of compensation despite the site's . This outcome reinforced the model's viability but underscored causal realism in media economics: unpaid inputs scaled low-cost content farms, enabling rapid growth but fostering exploitation claims where value extraction favored owners over creators.

Promotion of Alternative Medicine and Anti-Vaccination Views

HuffPost has published numerous articles defending , a practice involving highly diluted substances claimed to treat ailments through like-cures-like principles, despite systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrating its effects indistinguishable from . For instance, a 2010 contributor piece titled "The Case FOR Homeopathic Medicine" argued for its historical and purported , while a 2011 article highlighted Nobel Luc Montagnier's endorsement of homeopathic dilutions retaining biological activity, ignoring critiques that such claims lack replication in rigorous, blinded studies.67878-8/fulltext) Similarly, articles like "Disinformation Campaign Against Homeopathy" (2011) and "Homeopathy: A Healthier Way to Treat Depression?" (2010) framed as biased propaganda, prioritizing anecdotal reports and selective historical interpretations over meta-analyses, such as the 2005 Lancet aggregating 110 trials showing no efficacy beyond .67878-8/fulltext) In vaccine-related coverage, HuffPost hosted blogs and op-eds from figures promoting anti-vaccination narratives, including 's pre-2016 contributions linking thimerosal-containing to autism, despite large-scale epidemiological studies, such as a 2004 Institute of Medicine report reviewing 14 studies and finding no causal connection. , a vocal vaccine skeptic, also penned pieces asserting personal anecdotes of vaccine-induced autism over cohort studies like the 2014 of 1.26 million children confirming safety and no autism risk. These publications aligned with contributor freedoms under HuffPost's model, allowing unvetted opinions that amplified doubts amid from bodies like the CDC, where RCTs and post-licensure surveillance data affirm ' role in eradicating in high-vaccination populations. Such content contributed to a broader environment correlating with hesitancy; during the 2014-2015 U.S. outbreaks affecting over 1,200 cases, primarily in under-vaccinated communities influenced by anti-vax messaging, platforms hosting unrefuted claims faced scrutiny for eroding thresholds (95% coverage needed for ). HuffPost defended these as fostering "open debate," but empirical data from outbreak analyses link hesitancy hotspots to exposure of anecdotal-driven narratives rather than causal evidence of harm. In June 2019, following internal review, HuffPost removed dozens of anti-vaccine blogs, acknowledging they perpetuated unfounded risks, yet this addressed only legacy content, highlighting a prior pattern of elevating personal testimonies over probabilistic evidence from surveillance systems tracking adverse events at rates far below disease risks. This contrasts with conservative critiques of pharmaceutical overreach, which often demand cost-benefit scrutiny grounded in trial data, whereas HuffPost's earlier indulgence favored alternatives lacking such validation.

Epstein Scandal Involvement and Editorial Decisions

Arianna Huffington, co-founder of HuffPost, maintained social connections within elite circles that intersected with and , including attendance at events where Epstein was present and photographs of Huffington with Maxwell. Epstein's presence at gatherings hosted or associated with Huffington underscored these ties, though no evidence places Huffington on Epstein's flight logs or directly implicates her in his criminal activities. Prior to Epstein's July 6, 2019, arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, HuffPost published contributor articles that portrayed Epstein favorably, emphasizing his philanthropy and scientific support while omitting his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. These pieces, part of Epstein's broader effort to rehabilitate his image through placed content in outlets including HuffPost, were removed following a New York Times inquiry in July 2019, highlighting an editorial lapse in vetting contributor submissions that aligned with Epstein's narrative. Post-arrest coverage by HuffPost in 2019 and subsequent years emphasized Epstein's associations with , including event attendance and past social interactions, while giving comparatively less prominence to Bill Clinton's documented 26 flights on Epstein's plane between 2001 and 2003, as revealed in unsealed flight logs. Critics, including media watchdogs and commentators, have highlighted this pattern as selective outrage, contrasting HuffPost's aggressive #MeToo-era scrutiny of figures like Trump with muted exploration of Democratic-linked networks despite evidentiary parallels in Epstein's documented elite entanglements. Such decisions reflect broader accusations of partisan framing in , where compartmentalization of allies' ties prevailed over uniform application of investigative rigor.

Other Notable Incidents (e.g., Apologies and Personnel Appointments)

In January 2012, the launch of Le Huffington Post, HuffPost's French edition, named as editorial director, igniting debates over conflict-of-interest risks in personnel appointments. Sinclair, a former prominent television journalist and wife of —who had resigned as IMF managing director amid sexual assault allegations in New York and subsequent prostitution scandal involvement in —faced scrutiny for her capacity to oversee unbiased coverage of domestic . Critics, including media outlets like and , argued that her close ties to Strauss-Kahn, a key Socialist figure and erstwhile presidential contender, could skew reporting on left-leaning politicians or related scandals, potentially prioritizing personal affiliations over journalistic detachment. Sinclair defended the role, asserting no compromise to editorial integrity and that significant stories would receive standard treatment regardless of personal connections. Despite internal assurances, external observers highlighted the hire as emblematic of broader challenges in international expansions, where selections influenced by ideological or relational networks prompted calls for stricter safeguards against perceived echo-chamber influences. Proponents within HuffPost framed it as leveraging experienced talent for market adaptation, while detractors advocated systemic reforms to prioritize in leadership roles.

Reception, Awards, and Journalistic Assessments

Awards and Recognitions

HuffPost has garnered multiple awards for its digital innovation and multimedia content. In 2012, it achieved a milestone as the first commercially operated online-only U.S. news outlet to win a in National Reporting, awarded to senior military correspondent David Wood for his series Beyond the Battlefield, which detailed the physical and psychological toll on wounded veterans from and through extensive interviews and . The , recognizing excellence on the internet, honored HuffPost several times, including for Best Politics Blog in 2006 and 2008, and Best News & Politics for HuffPost Live in 2013, 2014, and 2015, emphasizing its early adoption of video streaming and interactive formats. Additional recognitions include a National Magazine Award for digital reporting, as well as recent honors from journalism associations such as three 2025 Los Angeles Press Club Journalism Awards for general news, feature writing, and online , and two New York Press Club awards in the same year for investigative and spot news reporting. These prizes predominantly celebrate multimedia experimentation and opinion-driven content over traditional straight news, with the 2012 Pulitzer standing as a rare exception for empirical investigative work. Awarding institutions like the Board and press clubs, drawn largely from and academic circles, have faced from conservative media watchdogs for exhibiting left-leaning institutional biases that correlate awards with audience demographics and alignment rather than rigorous factual or causal depth in reporting. Such critiques highlight limitations in these recognitions for evaluating truth-seeking, as empirical analyses show prizes often favor outlets with progressive slants, potentially overlooking distortions in coverage of politically charged topics.

Criticisms of Reliability and Bias from Independent Raters

Independent media bias rating organizations have consistently classified HuffPost as left-leaning in its editorial perspective. AllSides assigns it a "Left" bias rating based on multi-partisan reviews of content selection, wording, and framing that favor progressive viewpoints while applying negative spin to conservative figures and policies. Media Bias/Fact Check similarly rates it as left-biased, citing story selection that promotes left-leaning narratives and occasional use of emotionally charged language. Ad Fontes Media places HuffPost in the "Skews Left" category on its bias chart, with average bias scores reflecting a strong tilt toward liberal interpretations, derived from analyst evaluations of hundreds of articles for political positioning. On reliability, these raters highlight recurring issues with factual accuracy stemming from opinion integration into news reporting and selective emphasis. awards HuffPost a "Mixed" factual reporting score, pointing to instances of poor sourcing, failed fact checks, and promotion of unverified claims alongside loaded terminology that blurs with . rates its reliability as "Generally Reliable/ OR Other Issues," indicating that while much content avoids outright fabrication, it frequently incorporates interpretive through omitted or hyperbolic phrasing, leading to scores below full reliability thresholds in empirical assessments. Such patterns suggest a causal link between ideological alignment and reduced rigor, where alignment with progressive priors enables normalization of incomplete narratives without balancing counter-evidence. Public trust surveys underscore partisan disparities in perceived . Gallup's 2024 polling shows overall U.S. trust in at a record low of 31% expressing a "great deal" or "fair amount" of confidence, with Republicans at just 12%—well under 20%—compared to 70% among Democrats, a gap attributed by respondents to media prioritization of over neutral reporting. This low conservative trust correlates with critiques of outlets like HuffPost for embedding unexamined assumptions in coverage of social issues, such as underemphasizing causal factors like outcomes in favor of ideological framing, thereby eroding cross- confidence in empirical grounding. entities have occasionally intervened on HuffPost-amplified viral stories, correcting exaggerated or contextually misleading assertions that gained traction due to emotive presentation rather than comprehensive verification.

Current Status and Broader Impact (as of 2025)

Operational Developments Post-2020

Following BuzzFeed's acquisition of HuffPost in 2020, the outlet faced immediate integration hurdles, including the of 47 U.S. employees and the closure of its Canadian edition in March 2021, as the parent company streamlined operations amid overlapping newsroom functions. By 2022, HuffPost achieved profitability for the first time under ownership, attributed to a pivot toward newsletters, audience aggregation, and reduced reliance on original reporting, reversing prior annual losses exceeding $20 million. However, broader company-wide challenges persisted, exemplified by 's April 2023 shutdown of its Pulitzer-winning news division, which laid off about 180 staffers and redirected residual traffic toward HuffPost, exposing vulnerabilities in social media-driven models as platform algorithms curtailed viral distribution. In response to evolving digital landscapes, HuffPost has leaned into formats like video and podcasts, though these remain secondary to its core opinion and aggregation content, with limited evidence of aggressive AI integration for production—unlike some peers experimenting with generative tools for efficiency. Traffic metrics reflect mixed adaptation: U.S. monthly visits stabilized around 38.8 million as of September 2025 per data, buoyed by domestic search referrals, but global rankings lagged at #1,561 overall via , hampered by a 40% drop in referral traffic following Google's AI-enhanced search updates, as reported by . These shifts underscore an overreliance on algorithmic intermediaries, where causal disruptions in referral flows directly eroded audience reach without diversified owned channels. Marking its 20th anniversary in May 2025, HuffPost highlighted its "groundbreaking digital-first " in official statements, yet operational realities included fresh cuts of 30 editorial roles announced January 7, 2025, citing "growing challenges in the media landscape" and flat segment revenues within BuzzFeed's projected $195–210 million annual range. continues to emphasize pieces, sustaining a pronounced skew: a 2025 Pew Research analysis found regular HuffPost news consumers disproportionately liberal and Democratic-leaning, correlating with narrower appeal in a fragmenting media environment where partisan silos limit cross-ideological growth. This empirical partisan concentration, while bolstering loyalty among core users, constrains broader monetization amid advertiser preferences for demographically diverse outlets.

Influence on Media Landscape and Public Discourse

HuffPost's aggregation model, launched in , democratized news access by curating links and opinion pieces from diverse sources, fostering early viral sharing mechanisms that influenced platforms like and in prioritizing audience-driven content over traditional gatekeeping. This bottom-up approach expanded readership to millions, enabling rapid dissemination of stories that might otherwise remain niche, and inspired SEO-optimized formats emphasizing emotional engagement to compete in fragmented digital markets. Empirical analyses, however, link such tactics to accelerated norms, with HuffPost's headlines frequently employing and negative framing of conservative figures, contributing to broader declines in journalistic standards and reader trust. Studies of viral content confirm that digitally native outlets like HuffPost amplified "soft" structures prioritizing drama over substance, correlating with increased propagation during events like the 2016 U.S. election. On public discourse, HuffPost has deepened partisan silos, as its audience skews overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic—per 2025 data, regular users exhibit heightened ideological alignment compared to general populations, widening gaps in cross-partisan fact-sharing and fueling affective polarization. Progressive outlets commend its role in mobilizing activism on social issues, yet content audits reveal homogeneity in viewpoints, contradicting narratives of "diverse voices" and aligning instead with dynamics documented in algorithmic . Conservative assessments highlight its causal role in eroding shared realities, evidenced by correlations between left-leaning partisan and reduced willingness, amid overall media trust hitting 53-year lows in 2025. Thus, while innovating distribution, HuffPost's practices have empirically hastened a low-trust environment, prioritizing engagement-driven narratives over consensus-building .

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  105. https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/09/media/huffpost-layoffs
  106. https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2017/11/09/huffpost-s-flagship-role-the-heart-the-new-media-behemoth-oath
  107. https://www.huffpost.com/archive/au/entry/south-africas-white-genocide-these-are-the-facts_a_23388077
  108. https://www.wired.com/2011/04/tasini-sues-arianna/
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  112. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/2011/06/huffington-post-passes-new-york-times-traffic/351611/
  113. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/huffington-post-lawsuit_b_848942
  114. https://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-huffington-lawsuit-unpaid-bloggers-2011-4
  115. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/2011/04/huffington-post-bloggers-suing-class-action-lawsuit/349555/
  116. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/in-defense-of-free-why-i_b_260783
  117. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-case-for-homeopathic_b_451187
  118. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/luc-montagnier-homeopathy-taken-seriously_b_814619
  119. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/disinformation-about-homeopathy_b_952967
  120. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/healthier-ways-to-treat-d_b_740720
  121. https://www.businessinsider.com/huffpost-published-anti-vaccine-articles-by-celebrities-2019-6
  122. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/letter-from-the-editor-vaccines_n_5d0cefd6e4b0aa375f4ba1c6
  123. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jeffrey-epstein-high-society-contacts.html
  124. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/us/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein.html
  125. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/business/media/jeffrey-epstein-media.html
  126. https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/22/forbes-huffpo-delete-epstein-propaganda/
  127. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeffrey-epstein-pilot-donald-trump-bill-clinton-prince-andrew_n_61a5250ae4b0451e550b2000
  128. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/charlamagne-tha-god-liberal-media-epstein-files_n_6888eef9e4b002de4428515f
  129. https://www.allsides.com/story/media-bias-bias-alert-trump-responds-epstein-controversy
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  134. https://winners.webbyawards.com/2008/websites/general-websites/blog-political/154210/the-huffington-post
  135. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/huffpost-live-webby-award_n_7155734
  136. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250509319711/en/HuffPost-Celebrates-20-Years-Of-Groundbreaking-Digital-First-Journalism
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  154. https://www.demographyunplugged.com/p/media-trust-falls-to-a-53-year-low
  155. https://digitopoly.org/2014/09/06/huffpo-and-the-loss-of-trust/
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