Hundreds of ‘pink slime’ local news outlets are distributing algorithmic stories and conservative talking points - Columbia Journalism Review

the creation of partisan outlets masquerading as local news organizations... distributing thousands of algorithmically generated articles and a smaller number of reported stories... focusing attention on issues such as voter fraud and energy pricing, providing the appearance of neutrality for partisan issues, or to gather data from users that can then be used for political targeting...

traced back to conservative businessman Brian Timpone... attracted national attention and outrage for faking bylines and quotes, and for plagiarism...

The demise of local journalism in many areas creates an information vacuum... sometimes even physically mailing advertising materials that masquerade as newspapers but are not labeled political advertising...

The 450 websites span twenty-one different networks operated by five distinct corporate entities...