CalCoastNews was not hacked, likes were manipulated
August 18, 2025
By KAREN VELIE
CalCoastNews has not been hacked, though bad actors have manipulated the thumbs-up and thumbs-down functions in attempts to show support for some comments and to disparage other viewpoints.
In response to articles that mention former Paso Robles City Manager Ty Lewis, cannabis sellers Grace and Ernest Hall, or online troll Aaron Ochs, on three occasions it appears someone has either paid for or utilized bots from various website addresses to avoid the one vote only requirement. In less than than a minute on Sunday, comments with 40 thumbs-up changed to 30 thumbs-down.
Specifically, comments critical of the Halls or Ochs under the article, “Cannabis sellers attempt to silence critic, judge says unconstitutional,” were targeted.
More than a decade ago, CalCoastNews exclusively reported about a corruption scheme involving former Supervisor Adam Hill. Shortly afterwards, there were several attempts to hack CalCoastNews which were not successful.
CalCoastNews then enacted mutiple safeguards to protect the site from hackers.
And while CalCoastNews can install safeguards to protect the website, there are overseas companies that people can pay to manipulate likes and dislikes from outside internet addresses.
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