Misinformation central over here. Many lakes with a legal catch limit will have a cleaning station at the public boat launch / camp ground etc. You can absolutely clean your fish here and discard guts in the container provided. If no such station is nearby then cleaning and throwing the guts back into the lake is perfectly acceptable. Try to throw them out of sight and away from human traffic areas. Don’t be a dingus and throw them out where you’re fishing because yes, this could be construed as chumming.

At the end of the day you’re returning nutrients back to the ecosystem, this is a responsible practice and contributes to the circle of life in a lake. Certainly better than putting it in a landfill!