Chatbots Cite Fake Local News Sites Boosting Democrats

Voters consulting AI chatbots for midterm advice are increasingly citing websites that masquerade as local news outlets.

A digital security firm called VisionHeight identified 37 websites operating a coordinated network of political content. Ten of these sites present themselves as local news organizations, each promoting a single Democratic candidate in a competitive U.S. House race. The remaining sites cover state-level politics and aggregate candidate profiles, often highlighting policy records on issues like Medicaid and tariffs.

The network’s primary strategy involves structuring content for easy retrieval by AI crawlers. All 37 sites include an llms.txt file, a plain text list of articles that most standard websites do not maintain. Alisha Ukani, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, noted that these files are rare outside of technology and business sectors. The sites also explicitly allow major AI companies to scrape their content, a practice many traditional news organizations avoid to protect their revenue.

NPR tested the network’s influence by asking 37 questions to ChatGPT and Gemini. ChatGPT cited at least one article from the network in 19 of the responses. In 17 of those instances, the chatbot linked to one of the 10 sites posing as local news. For example, in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, ChatGPT cited the Kalamazoo Beacon when asked about affordability. The Beacon has published only 16 stories, all focused on Democrat Sean McCann. Despite this narrow scope, the site describes itself in its source code as a news outlet reporting on southwest Michigan communities.

The timing of the network’s creation suggests a rapid deployment. Registry data shows all 37 websites were set up on September 15, with 36 of them registered within an eight-minute window. Hundreds of articles appeared in batches during September and October. VisionHeight’s report indicates the volume and consistency of the content suggest the use of AI tools for generation. The sites were subsequently polished, with generic descriptions replaced by specific local references in October.

The operator of the sites has not been identified. NPR could not reach the site owners. JoAnna Mendoza, a Democrat in Arizona promoted by the network, stated she was not behind the sites and did not know who was. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee denied involvement. Other promoted candidates and supporting super PACs, including American Bridge 21st Century and House Majority PAC, did not respond to requests for comment.

Responses from Google products differed markedly from those of OpenAI. Gemini cited none of the network’s links in the test responses. Google search also did not surface the sites in its first page results. However, VisionHeight reported that at least one site appeared on Google’s first page in early October, ranking above Ballotpedia. Google spokesperson Davis Thompson said the company detected a policy violation and took swift action. OpenAI spokesperson Nate Evans stated that ChatGPT cites a range of sources to allow users to make their own judgments. As of October 30, the Kalamazoo Beacon continues to be cited by ChatGPT in multiple queries regarding the Michigan race.