AI Chatbots Cited ‘Pink Slime’ Sites in 48% of Tested Midterm Answers
Published by AINave Editorial • Reviewed by Ramit
NewsGuard analysts found that leading AI chatbots cited partisan websites posing as independent local news outlets in 48% of responses to questions about midterm candidates and issues those sites had covered. Only one of 168 responses disclosed that a cited site was partisan, according to NewsGuard’s account of the audit published in POLITICO Magazine.
That makes the result a source-transparency finding, not a measure of how often chatbots produce partisan answers across all election questions. The tested subject matter matters: the audit focused on topics covered by these outlets.
Outlet names can hide their political provenance
“Pink slime” sites present themselves as local news while having a partisan agenda. NewsGuard lists names such as Ohio Independent, Iowa Starting Line, and The North Carolinian as examples of outlets whose familiar-sounding labels can obscure that agenda and funding. The excerpt does not establish the funding status of each named site individually.
That distinction matters when a chatbot supplies a citation. A name that sounds like a local newsroom can lend a source an appearance of independence, while the answer may not tell readers about its partisan nature. The citation provides a route to the source, but the audit’s disclosure count suggests that readers cannot assume the answer will explain who is behind it.
Rates differed by chatbot and source orientation
NewsGuard’s reported test included ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Copilot, Perplexity, and Grok. ChatGPT cited pink slime sites in 70.8% of its responses, the highest reported rate, while Grok did so in 29.2%, the lowest. Those figures are chatbot-specific results, distinct from the 48% overall rate.
The report also found that left-wing networks were cited three times more often on average than right-wing counterparts. For ChatGPT responses about topics those sites covered, the reported rates were 58.3% for left-leaning sources and 12.5% for right-leaning sources. These comparisons describe the audit’s tested responses, not every model’s general political balance.
The practical concern is how easily a chatbot can relay a source without relaying its provenance. NewsGuard says such answers offer pink slime sites a cost-free way to reach readers who might not otherwise encounter them. The audit does not establish that the citations changed voters’ views, but it shows why a list of sources alone may not give users enough context to judge them.
