Can you guess the most popular news app in the United States?
Fox? In fourth place.
Google News? In third place.
New York times? Even in only fifth place.
No, the most successful news app in the USA is called “NewsBreak”. In the Android store, it ranks first in the “News & Magazines” category, and in the Apple store it ranks third behind Reddit and X under “News.”
Democratic politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won't be happy with NewsBreak spreading AI-driven disinformation. Image: Cornerstone
NewsBreak publishes stories from Reuters, AP, Fox, CNN and other popular news producers, but also specializes in scouring the Internet for local news and using artificial intelligence to produce its own news stories.
According to its own information, the app has 50 million monthly active users. According to an article published by Reuters, NewsBreak regularly produces fake news through its AI-based articles. Like last Christmas.
At the time, NewsBreak ran a story about a fatal shooting in Bridgerton, New Jersey. Even if the story seems credible, the shooting never happened. Local police authorities said on their Facebook account: “Nothing even similar to what was mentioned in the article happened here at Christmas time.”
The New Jersey shooting story is not an isolated incident. Reuters has seen court documents that show NewsBreak has published at least 40 problematic news stories about artificial intelligence since 2021. Many were taken down after complaints were filed, but the damage had already been done. For example, when it was falsely reported that a charity in Erie, Pennsylvania, was running a 24-hour foot care clinic for homeless people.
Since Reuters requested comment, NewsBreak has added text to its homepage saying its services “may not always be error-free.” Court documents also show that NewsBreak has already been taken to court by several local media outlets and several settlements have been reached. In one case, $1.75 million was paid because content was unauthorized and unquoted. The company relies on a patented algorithm that has also been used by Chinese news aggregator Yidian.
NewsBreak emerged as a subsidiary of Yidian. NewsBreak's proximity to China causes further unrest in the United States – especially in an election year. According to former employees who spoke to Reuters anonymously, the typical NewsBreak app user is female, older than 45, without a college degree and living in a suburban or rural area.
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