Fake Local News Sites Are Being Built to Fool AI Chatbots, Not Voters

Election influence campaigns on social media are common, but most gain little traction with real audiences. New research from VisionHeight, an Israeli threat intelligence firm, points to a shift in tactics. Rather than targeting people directly, someone is setting up networks of hyperlocal websites across at least 14 US states, aimed at influencing local races by reaching AI systems.

The sites carry names such as "Wolverine State Report" and "Peach State Bulletin". Each state network usually has five to six sites, some posing as hard news outlets and others as opinion or editorial pages. They cite one another, creating a circular network of local credibility. The content does not read like journalism or anything a person would find coherent. Instead, it repeats statements that a given candidate is "the stronger choice" on issues such as housing and taxes, hundreds of times, with slight wording changes for each issue.

The researchers say the writing appears to be aimed at AI crawlers that scrape web content, not human readers. This matters because many people now turn to AI chatbots for information and advice, including on politics. If a chatbot draws on manipulated sources, those sources could shape the answers people receive.