16 Stories: Fake News Site Boosts One Candidate

16. That is the total number of stories published by the Kalamazoo Beacon, a website that appeared in ChatGPT search results for a key Michigan House race. Every single article on the site focuses on one Democrat, Sean McCann.

The Beacon describes itself in its source code as reporting on Kalamazoo and southwest Michigan. It labels its content as news articles. Yet a review shows the site has produced no other local coverage. It exists solely to detail McCann's policy positions and his record as a state legislator.

This site is part of a larger network of 37 websites identified by the digital security firm VisionHeight. Ten of these sites pose as local news outlets. Each of the ten promotes exactly one Democratic candidate for the U.S. House in a competitive district. The remaining 27 sites cover state and national politics, promoting other federal, state, and local candidates.

All 37 websites were set up on September 15. Registry data shows that all but one were registered within an eight-minute period. Hundreds of articles appeared on these sites in batches during September and October. VisionHeight suggested the operator may have used AI to generate the volume of material. The sites were later polished, with descriptions updated to sound more specific to their purported regions.

The network is designed to be picked up by artificial intelligence tools. The websites explicitly allow AI crawlers to scrape their content. Many articles are formatted as questions and answers, a style chatbots prefer. Each site also contains a file called llms.txt, which lists articles in plain text. Most websites do not have this file. Alisha Ukani, a researcher at the University of Washington, noted that sites with this file are usually technology or business-related.

When voters ask chatbots about candidates, these sites often appear. NPR tested 37 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini. In 19 responses, about half the time, ChatGPT cited at least one article from the network. In 17 of those cases, it cited one of the ten fake local news sites. ChatGPT often paired these citations with legitimate sources like Ballotpedia or campaign websites.

The sites are openly partisan. They link to sources like voting records and mainstream news articles. They also link to partisan outlets. Opposing candidates rarely appear in the articles. When they do, the coverage often focuses on potential liabilities, such as support for data centers or tariffs. The websites share a common operator, though it remains unclear who that person is.

JoAnna Mendoza, a Democrat in Arizona promoted by the network, said she was not behind the sites and did not know the operator. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee denied involvement. McCann and other promoted candidates, along with supporting super PACs, did not respond to requests for comment. Renée DiResta, a professor at Georgetown University, said the sites cross a line by pretending to be news outlets.

Google’s Gemini chatbot did not cite any links from the network in the tests. Google search also did not surface the sites in its first page results. However, VisionHeight found that in early October, at least one site ranked higher than Ballotpedia in Google search. Google detected a policy violation and took swift action, according to spokesperson Davis Thompson.

OpenAI stated that ChatGPT cites a range of sources so people can explore them. Spokesperson Nate Evans said the company takes action when issues are brought to its attention. After NPR flagged the sites, the Kalamazoo Beacon was still cited in five subsequent tests. In some results, McCann was still described as having the most detailed affordability plan. In others, that specific claim was absent.