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By Lea Marchl, Ines Chomnalez, and Isis Blachez
Anthropic’s AI chatbot Claude repeated false claims 15 percent of the time when it was asked about pro-Kremlin falsehoods in the voice of typical AI users, citing Russian state-affiliated media every time, a NewsGuard audit found. This marks a sharp increase compared to seven previous NewsGuard audits over almost a year, from March 2025 to February 2026, when Claude cited Russian state-affiliated sources only four percent of the time on similar typical-user prompts.
This increase in citations to Kremlin propaganda sources, including when they spread false claims, suggests that in recent months, the popular AI tool has become more vulnerable to state disinformation campaigns. NewsGuard’s finding is consistent with more general recent complaints from Claude users that the chatbot has become less reliable.
NewsGuard also found that since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, Claude cited Iranian state-affiliated media in one case when prompted on pro-Iran false claims. The chatbot never cited Iranian state-affiliated media in previous NewsGuard audits.
In late April 2026, NewsGuard prompted the free version of Claude on 10 false claims spread by Russia’s propaganda apparatus and 10 false claims spread by...
Seneca County Commissioner Bill Frankart acknowledged under oath that some of his past public statements about a local landfill and oversight of the regional solid waste district were inaccurate a...