I’m partly basing this on firsthand knowledge, since I was somewhat involved with it, but it’s in the order as well although it’s confusing.
You’ll note that the first mention of Whyspertech emails ... dates several weeks after Fox published the initial article. Whyspertech wasn’t a source for the article. He was someone who was encouraging Fox to keep it up, and possibly go further in reporting.
It wasn’t Fox just willy-nilly reporting what some Twitter account said… It was complicated with multiple people being deceitful, in a coordinated way.