Meta has agreed to use reporting and archives from Newsmax to help answer AI queries across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, a move that has drawn criticism because Newsmax has a documented record of false claims and disinformation. NewsGuard gave Newsmax a 20/100 reliability score, and the outlet settled lawsuits tied to 2020 election coverage for more than $100 million combined. Experts warn that training AI on unreliable sources risks amplifying misinformation across platforms used by billions.
Meta to Train Its AI on Newsmax Reporting — Critics Warn It Could Amplify Misinformation
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Meta has struck an agreement to incorporate reporting and archives from Newsmax into the datasets that will "support AI queries across Meta's apps and devices," a decision that has sparked criticism given the outlet's documented history of falsehoods and conspiracy-promoting coverage.
According to reporting by Popular Information, Meta and the far-right outlet Newsmax reached a content deal under which Newsmax material will be used to help answer user queries via AI features embedded in Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta says these platforms together reach more than 3.9 billion monthly users.
"Pleased to work with Meta to help ensure users have access to timely, high-quality journalism through AI technologies," — Chris Ruddy, Newsmax CEO
Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed. Newsmax publicly announced the partnership, and its CEO, Chris Ruddy, framed the deal as an effort to bring journalism into AI-powered tools.
Why experts are concerned
Media watchdogs and experts warn that integrating content from outlets with poor accuracy records into AI training sets can increase the risk that misinformation spreads more quickly and appears more credible.
NewsGuard, which rates news sites for reliability, gave Newsmax a score of 20 out of 100 and said the outlet is "unreliable because it severely violates basic journalism standards." Popular Information notes that Newsmax settled multiple lawsuits tied to false 2020 election coverage — including cases involving Dominion and Smartmatic — paying more than $100 million combined.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate has also identified Newsmax as one of the largest promoters of climate-related disinformation online. Critics say these documented problems make the partnership particularly risky when Newsmax content may be surfaced by AI tools inside apps billions of people use for news, messaging and everyday queries.
Broader context
Popular Information reported that Meta has made similar AI-content agreements with other publishers, including Fox News, News Corp, The Washington Examiner and The Daily Caller, as well as mainstream outlets such as USA Today, CNN and People. The outlet added that Meta has not announced equivalent partnerships with left-leaning publishers and declined to explain why when asked.
Meta has not commented publicly beyond confirming that it is incorporating a range of publisher content to support its AI features. Observers say transparent disclosure about which sources inform AI answers, plus strong content-filtering and quality controls, will be critical to limit the spread of misinformation.
What to watch next: whether Meta publishes details about the deal, how Newsmax content is filtered for AI use, and whether the company expands partnerships to include a wider ideological and editorial mix of publishers.
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