NewsBreak, a popular free news app in the US, has been publishing fictitious stories written by AI since 2021, according to Reuters. The app publishes licensed content from legitimate news sources, such as CNN, AP and Reuters itself, but it also uses artificial intelligence tools to rewrite press releases and local news. One of the most egregious examples of a false news story by NewsBreak was published on Christmas Eve last year. The app's writeup claimed that there was a shooting in Bridgeton, New Jersey when no such incident took place. New Jersey's police department dismissed the claims made in the article before the app, which said it got the information from another website, took it down four days later.

Last Christmas Eve, NewsBreak, a free app with roots in China that is the most downloaded news app in the United States, published an alarming piece about a small town shooting. It was headlined "Christmas Day Tragedy Strikes Bridgeton, New Jersey Amid Rising Gun Violence in Small Towns." The problem was, no such shooting took place. The Bridgeton police department posted a statement on Facebook on Dec. 27 dismissing the article -- produced using AI technology -- as "entirely false."