A pro-Scientology Twitter account bought a series of “promoted tweets” that appeared online Monday slamming a new HBO documentary about the church, comparing the film to Rolling Stone’s retracted report on a campus rape at the University of Virginia.
“Is Alex Gibney’s Upcoming HBO ‘Documentary’ a Rolling Stone/UVA Redux?” read the banner included in the tweets.
The account, @FreedomEthics, bought promotional space on Twitter for its tweets criticizing the film, based on Lawrence Wright’s highly critical expose of Scientology, “Going Clear.”
Scientology has gained notoriety for its confrontational relationship to critical media, publishing a screed entitled “Anderson Cooper: A History Of Lies” after the CNN anchor launched a special investigation into claims of abuse within the organization.
A screengrab of one of the promoted tweets:
