Complex sentence: They told reporter, Ian Young, that they want to provoke a serious conversation, and insist they are not hoaxers "and" deny that the page came about as a result of direction from outside Vancouver... founders all know each other in the real world.
Split into simpler sentences: They told reporter, Ian Young, that they want to provoke a serious conversation, and insist they are not hoaxers. "They" deny that the page came about as a result of direction from outside Vancouver, and they say the founders all know each other in the real world.