Some US lawmakers call for more scrutiny of news app NewsBreak over
Chinese origins
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[June 08, 2024]
By Alexandra Alper and James Pearson
WASHINGTON/
LONDON (Reuters) -Three U.S. lawmakers have called for more
scrutiny of NewsBreak, a popular news aggregation app in the United
States after Reuters reported it has Chinese origins and has used
artificial intelligence tools to produce erroneous stories.
The Reuters story drew upon previously unreported court documents
related to copyright infringement, cease-and-desist emails, and a 2022
company memo registering concerns about "AI-generated stories" to
identify at least 40 instances in which NewsBreak's use of AI tools
affected the communities it strives to serve.
“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," said Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat who chairs the
Intelligence Committee.
"This is yet another example of the serious threat posed by technologies
from countries of concern. It’s also a stark reminder that we need a
holistic approach to addressing this threat – we simply cannot win the
game of whack-a-mole with individual companies," he said.
The lawmakers expressed concerns about NewsBreak's current and
historical links to Chinese investors, and the company's presence in
China, where many of its engineers are based.
In response to a request from Reuters for comment about the lawmakers'
statements, NewsBreak said it was an American company: "NewsBreak is a
U.S. company and always has been. Any assertion to the contrary is not
true," a spokesperson said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/08/images/ads/current/siu_sda_PROMGARD_2024.png)
NewsBreak launched in the U.S. in 2015 as a subsidiary of Yidian, a
Chinese news aggregation app. Both companies were founded by Jeff Zheng,
the CEO of NewsBreak, and the companies share a U.S. patent registered
in 2015 for an "Interest Engine" algorithm, which recommends news
content based on a user's interests and location, Reuters reported.
Yidian in 2017 received praise from ruling Communist Party officials in
China for its efficiency in disseminating government propaganda. Reuters
found no evidence that NewsBreak censored or produced news that was
favorable to the Chinese government.
“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," said Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi,
the top Democrat on the House select committee on China, in a reference
to Yidian and its former investor, state-linked media outlet Phoenix New
Media.
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![](../images/060824PIX/news_r39.jpg)
U.S. Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and Chairman of the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, holds a hearing about
worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., April
14, 2021. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/08/images/ads/current/guzzardos_lda_GENERIC_040524.png)
Americans have the right to "full transparency" about any
connections to the CCP from news distributors, Krishnamoorthi added,
particularly with regards to the use of "opaque algorithms" and
artificial intelligence tools to produce news.
Reuters reported the praise Yidian received from the Communist Party
in 2017, but was unable to establish that NewsBreak has any current
ties with the Party.
U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican, said IDG Capital's
backing of NewsBreak indicated the app "deserves increased
scrutiny."
"We cannot allow our foreign adversaries access to American
citizen's data to weaponize them against America’s interests," she
said.
NewsBreak is a privately held start-up, whose primary backers are
private equity firms San Francisco-based Francisco Partners, and
Beijing-based IDG Capital, Reuters reported. In February, IDG
Capital was added to a list of dozens of Chinese companies the
Pentagon said were allegedly working with Beijing's military.
IDG Capital told Bloomberg in February that it has no association
with the Chinese military and does not belong on that list. IDG did
not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawmaker's
reaction.
A spokesperson for Francisco Partners, which has previously declined
to answer questions from Reuters on their investment in NewsBreak,
described the story as "false and misleading," but declined to
provide details beyond saying the description of them as a "primary
backer" of NewsBreak was incorrect because their investment was less
than 10%.
They did not provide documentation to prove the size of the holding.
NewsBreak has told Reuters as recently as May 13 that Francisco
Partners is NewsBreak's primary investor. NewsBreak did not respond
to two requests late Friday asking for documentation supporting the
assertion.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and James Pearson in
London; Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing
by Anna Driver and Chris Sanders)
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