This blog has long suggested that Newsweek appears to be based on the fake news publishing model. Now we learn their parent company has fake readers:

Newsweek Media Group, the parent company of IBT, acknowledged it purchases audiences from ad networks that sell pop-up and pop-under traffic

Source: The Publisher of Newsweek And The International Business Times Has Been Buying Traffic And Engaging In Ad Fraud
The head editor at Newsweek is currently suspended over allegations of sexual harassment. The IRS is said to have filed millions of dollars in tax liens against the publisher.
Fake news publishers often intermix real news with exaggerated, emotion-laden click-bait articles designed for online sharing on social media. The goal is to drive eyeballs to advertisers. And when that is insufficient to create ad traffic, they can always buy fake readers.