A website started by Obama donor and Dude, Where's My Car? star Ashton Kutcher has been accused of plagiarizing articles from such websites as the Huffington Post and BuzzFeed, the New York Post reports:
A+ was established by the 36-year-old actor in 2011 and touts itself as a "platform that will leverage viral social storytelling to create positive change in the world." But the Daily Dot — which documented its findings with screen shot comparisons — reports that Kutcher’s site has lifted entire articles with little to no changes or attribution. Sometimes the changes are as minimal as a new headline and a line asking readers to share the story.
The site claims to draw 30 million unique visitors a months, a number that is attributed to Kutcher’s heavy promotion of its content on social media.
After the Daily Dot inquired about the allegations last week, the articles in question, along with all content pre-dating July, were deleted. All posts from Twitter prior to Aug. 6, and Facebook before Aug. 4, were scrubbed as well.
In 2012, Kutcher donated $25,000 to the Obama Victory Fund.
