State media control shapes LLM behaviour by influencing training data

Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01486-9

State control of the media is shown to alter the training data of large language models (LLMs) through its impact on the information environment. This has a substantial effect on the output of LLMs, with states rated more favourably in their own language when they have tighter media control.