AI chatbots cited 19 fake news sites promoting 10 Democratic House candidates

A network of 37 websites designed to look like local news outlets has influenced the answers provided by OpenAI’s ChatGPT regarding competitive U.S. House races. Digital security firm VisionHeight identified the group, which promotes 10 Democratic candidates in key districts. The sites were registered on September 15, with all but one created within an eight-minute window.

Voters seeking guidance on candidates in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District found that ChatGPT frequently cited the Kalamazoo Beacon, a site within the network. The chatbot identified Democrat Sean McCann as having the most detailed published affordability plan. The Kalamazoo Beacon has published only 16 stories, all of which concern McCann, his policy positions, or his record as a state legislator.

Renée DiResta, an associate research professor at Georgetown University, noted that campaigns optimizing for AI pickup by pretending to be news outlets crosses a line into deception. She stated that disclosing funding or indicating a linked effort would be the ethical course of action. The network includes 10 sites that pose as local news and 12 that focus on specific states. The remaining sites publish opinion pieces or roundup articles supporting the same candidates.

The websites are structured to be easily scraped by artificial intelligence tools. Every site in the network contains a file called llms.txt, which lists articles in plain text. Most websites do not use this file, and those that do tend to be technology or business oriented. The articles are often formatted as questions and answers, a structure that chatbots prefer to cite. The sites explicitly allow AI crawlers from major companies to access their content.

NPR tested the influence of these sites by submitting 37 questions to ChatGPT and Gemini. In 19 instances, ChatGPT cited at least one article from the network. In 17 of those cases, the citation was from a site pretending to be a local news outlet. Gemini did not cite any links from the group in its responses. Google search also did not surface the sites in its first-page results, although one site briefly ranked higher than Ballotpedia before Google detected a policy violation.

Nitsan Daniel, CTO of VisionHeight, said the company did not systematically measure how the sites appeared for different candidates. The firm’s report indicated that the operator likely used AI to generate the high volume of articles published in batches during September and October. The sites link to congressional voting records, mainstream news, and partisan sources like the Courier network to support their claims. Opposing candidates appeared infrequently and briefly in the articles reviewed.

It remains unclear who operates the websites. JoAnna Mendoza, a Democrat in Arizona promoted by the network, said she was not behind the sites and did not know the operators. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee denied involvement in a phone call. Candidates McCann and other promoted Democrats, along with super PACs American Bridge 21st Century, Tomorrow Together, and House Majority PAC, did not respond to requests for comment. Patrick Warren, a professor at Clemson University, compared the phenomenon to traditional newspaper-style advertising.

OpenAI spokesperson Nate Evans stated that ChatGPT cites a range of sources so people can make their own judgments. He added that the company takes action to improve model responses when issues are brought to its attention. After NPR flagged the sites, the Kalamazoo Beacon was still cited in five subsequent test queries. In some instances, McCann retained the distinction for his affordability plan, while in others he did not. The sites continued to be active as of late October 2026.