Despite working for Michigan State University outside Lansing , Mich., Matt Grossmann had never heard of The Lansing Sun until he stumbled across the website on his Facebook news feed earlier this month.

So when he clicked on an advertised article about Michigan’s roads spending that criticized the state’s Democratic governor, he was curious to know whether The Sun was a new outlet serving the state capital’s 118,000 residents and political leaders.

What he discovered instead was a network of nearly 40 websites that appear to be local news outlets from throughout Michigan but offer largely identical articles about taxes, alleged voter fraud and education costs with a distinctly conservative political tone. Websites with names like The Grand Rapids Reporter, The Kalamazoo Times and Waterford Today include little local news beyond gas prices and prewritten releases about library events.

“I don’t know if fake but local-sounding news outlets makes things more credible, but they certainly seem to think so because they’ve gone to the effort to do that,” said Mr. Grossman n, the director of the university’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research.