03/12/2026
NewsGuard Launches Real-time “AI Content Farm” Detection Datastream to Counter Onslaught of AI Slop in News
Pangram Labs’ leading AI detection technology and NewsGuard’s expert analysts and exclusive data combine to instantly identify more than 3,000 AI Content Farms, protecting readers and advertisers from accelerating deluge
New York, NY — NewsGuard today announced the launch of its new “AI Content Farm” detector datastream, which alerts consumers, platforms and advertisers when they encounter one of a growing category of websites that churn out AI-generated, often inaccurate news and information content to generate advertising revenue or spread propaganda.
The new system, built in partnership with Pangram Labs, builds on NewsGuard’s industry-leading reporting on AI Content Farms. Combining NewsGuard’s exclusive data with Pangram Labs’ automated AI detection software, the system identifies news and information websites with a substantial portion of content that appears to be generated by artificial intelligence. NewsGuard’s analysts then review to confirm results and remove false positives.
The system has already enabled NewsGuard to identify 3,006 AI Content Farm sites—a number that has more than doubled over the past year. The pollution is accelerating and is now growing at a rate of 300-500 new sites a month.
NewsGuard classifies websites as AI Content Farms based on three criteria:
- Substantial AI Content: A substantial portion of the website’s content is produced by AI, according to an AI detection tool provided by Pangram Labs.
- Non-disclosure of AI Use: The site does not clearly disclose that its content is produced by AI. (Contrast that with many legitimate news outlets that use AI to aid their reporting and, when doing so, disclose the practice clearly and responsibly.)
- Misleading Presentation: The site is presented in a way that an average reader would assume its content is produced by human writers or journalists.
These websites – which typically feature generic names such as Times Business News and Business Post – also tend to churn out dozens of articles a day and are often the originators of false claims including about top brands, public health, political leaders and celebrities.
For example, in October 2025, an AI content farm named “News 24” falsely claimed that Coca-Cola threatened to cancel its Super Bowl sponsorship if Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny performed at the NFL’s halftime show. Although the story was false – Coke is not a Super Bowl sponsor – it carried multiple advertisements from blue-chip brands including Expedia, AT&T, YouTube, Priceline, Hotels.com, Skechers, and GoDaddy.
Another AI content farm, “CitizenWatchReport,” spread the false claim that two U.S. senators spent $814,000 on hotels in Ukraine—a claim which was then amplified by Russian state media before spreading to large social accounts in the U.S.
“With this new database and capability, NewsGuard is protecting clients across industries from being exploited by disrupting the business model behind AI Content Farms that abuse tech and advertising platforms to attract clicks and ad revenue or spread propaganda,” said Dimitris Dimitriadis, NewsGuard’s Director of Research & Development.
“Obviously, readers and advertisers are wasting time and money on sites that make baseless claims about celebrities, brands, and government officials — claims that are then amplified across online and social media channels, further polluting the information ecosystem,” added NewsGuard Chief Operating Officer Matt Skibinski. “We’re now seeing and identifying sites like these, often at a rate of dozens per day, and adding them to our data base so that advertisers won’t be suckered into funding them.”
“Today’s flood of AI-generated content puts the internet as we know it at risk,” said Max Spero, the Co-founder and CEO of Pangram Labs. “Although we can’t prevent the flood of AI slop, we are proud to be working with NewsGuard to prevent bad actors from using AI-generated news to pollute our information environment.”
Protecting Advertisers from “Made for Advertising” AI Content Farms
NewsGuard’s new system for detecting AI Content Farms offers an important new protection for advertisers seeking to ensure safe and suitable ad placements. Many AI Content Farms are “Made for Advertising” sites—designed to churn out low-quality content and attract programmatic advertising revenue. NewsGuard previously reported that as many as 141 blue chip brands had advertised on such sites in a two-month time period.
Advertisers can use NewsGuard’s AI Content Farm datastream to direct their ad placements away from these sites and toward safer and more suitable environments. The datastream is integrated into pre-bid segments in top ad-buying platforms such as The Trade Desk or can be licensed from NewsGuard by a brand or its ad agency directly.
Detecting Foreign Malign Influence Networks in Real Time
The datastream also captures websites set up by hostile actors tied to adversaries including Russia, China and Iran whose explicit goal is to spread disinformation. For example, this includes 358 AI Content Farms that NewsGuard has linked to Storm-1516 — a pro-Russian influence operation that churns out false and misleading content on websites designed to look like local newspapers in the United States and Europe.
“Armed with our unique and real-time data, consumers, advertisers and AI companies can protect themselves from the destructive effects of AI slop, whether that be financially or politically motivated,” Dimitriadis said.
Graph via NewsGuard
About NewsGuard:
NewsGuard helps consumers and enterprises find reliable information online with transparent and apolitical data and tools. Founded in 2018 by media entrepreneur and award-winning journalist Steven Brill and former Wall Street Journal Publisher Gordon Crovitz, NewsGuard’s global staff of information reliability analysts has collected, updated, and deployed more than 7 million data points on more than 35,000 news and information sources, and cataloged and tracked all the top false narratives spreading online.
NewsGuard’s continuously updated, real-time datasets are available for license by technology companies, researchers, and others concerned about defending against foreign malign influence and ensuring information integrity.
About Pangram Labs:
Pangram Labs is the technology leader in AI detection systems, surpassing other detection providers in accuracy, reliability, and information delivery. Pangram’s detection systems are relied on by thousands of businesses, from moderating AI content on social media platforms to identifying AI-generated fake reviews. Founded by classmates at Stanford University, Pangram is known as the high-accuracy solution for assessing the authenticity of written content.