Three U.S. lawmakers have urged increased scrutiny of NewsBreak, a widely used news aggregation app in the United States, following a Reuters report revealing its Chinese origins and the use of artificial intelligence tools that produced erroneous stories.
The Reuters investigation, which drew upon court documents related to copyright infringement, cease-and-desist emails, and a 2022 company memo, identified at least 40 instances where NewsBreak’s use of AI tools negatively impacted communities it aimed to serve.
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat and Chair of the Intelligence Committee, remarked, “The only thing more terrifying than a company that deals in unchecked, artificially generated news is one with deep ties to an adversarial foreign government.” He emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing the threat posed by such technologies, stating, “We simply cannot win the game of whack-a-mole with individual companies.”
Lawmakers expressed concerns about NewsBreak’s historical and current connections to Chinese investors and the company’s operations in China, where many of its engineers are based.
In response to Reuters’ request for comment, NewsBreak asserted its American identity: “NewsBreak is a U.S. company and always has been. Any assertion to the contrary is not true,” a spokesperson stated.
NewsBreak, launched in the U.S. in 2015 as a subsidiary of the Chinese news aggregation app Yidian, was founded by Jeff Zheng, who also serves as its CEO. The two companies share a U.S. patent for an “Interest Engine” algorithm, which suggests news content based on user interests and location.
Yidian received praise from Chinese Communist Party officials in 2017 for its role in disseminating government propaganda. However, Reuters found no evidence that NewsBreak censored or produced news favorable to the Chinese government.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the House select committee on China, stated, “This report brings to light serious questions about NewsBreak, its historical relationship with an entity that assisted the CCP, and to Chinese state-linked media.” He stressed the need for Americans to have “full transparency” regarding any connections to the CCP from news distributors, particularly with the use of “opaque algorithms” and AI tools to produce news.
While Reuters noted the praise Yidian received from the Communist Party, it found no current ties between NewsBreak and the Party.
U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican, highlighted that IDG Capital’s backing of NewsBreak warranted “increased scrutiny.” She cautioned, “We cannot allow our foreign adversaries access to American citizens’ data to weaponize them against America’s interests.”
NewsBreak is a privately held start-up primarily backed by private equity firms Francisco Partners, based in San Francisco, and IDG Capital, based in Beijing. In February, IDG Capital was added to a Pentagon list of Chinese companies allegedly cooperating with Beijing’s military. IDG Capital denied any association with the Chinese military and declined to comment on the lawmakers’ concerns.
A spokesperson for Francisco Partners, which previously declined to comment on their investment in NewsBreak, called the Reuters story “false and misleading” but did not provide details, noting only that their investment was less than 10%, contrary to being described as a “primary backer.” NewsBreak had told Reuters as recently as May 13 that Francisco Partners was its primary investor. NewsBreak did not respond to requests for documentation supporting this assertion.
