  The proliferation of misleading or false information spread by untrustworthy
websites has emerged as a significant concern on the public agenda in many
countries, including Slovakia. Despite the influence ascribed to such websites,
their transparency and accountability remain an issue in most cases, with
published work on mapping the administrators and connections of untrustworthy
websites remaining limited. This article contributes to this body of knowledge
(i) by providing an effective open-source tool to uncover untrustworthy website
networks based on the utilization of the same Google Analytics/AdSense IDs,
with the added ability to expose networks based on historical data, and (ii) by
providing insight into the Slovak untrustworthy website landscape through
delivering a first of its kind mapping of Slovak untrustworthy website
networks. Our approach is based on a mix-method design employing a qualitative
exploration of data collected in a two wave study conducted in 2019 and 2021,
utilizing a custom-coded tool to uncover website connections. Overall, the
study succeeds in exposing multiple novel website ties. Our findings indicate
that while some untrustworthy website networks have been found to operate in
the Slovak infosphere, most researched websites appear to be run by multiple
mutually unconnected administrators. The resulting data also demonstrates that
untrustworthy Slovak websites display a high content diversity in terms of
connected websites, ranging from websites of local NGOs, an e-shop selling
underwear to a matchmaking portal.

Computers and Society