Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign team has been quietly editing news headlines in Google search ads to make it seem like major news outlets are on her side, according to a report.
The altered headlines — appearing on Google ads and paired with a “Paid for by Harris for President” banner — were changed without the news outlets’ knowledge, Axios reported Tuesday.
Nearly a dozen publishers were swept up in the faux headline campaign, including major companies like the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News, the Associated Press and PBS.
Kamala Harris’ campaign team has been altering headlines on ads to appear more in her favor, according to a report. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Even smaller publications like North Dakota’s WDay Radio also saw their headlines changed.
The ads include links to real articles from news outlets, but the headlines and descriptive text had been edited to cast a supportive light on the 59-year-old presidential hopeful.
For example, one ad that ran alongside an article from the Guardian shows a headline that reads “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans – Harris Defends Repro Freedom” and includes supporting text underneath the headline that reads, “VP Harris is a champion for reproductive freedom and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.”
Another linking to an NPR story reads, “Harris Will Lower Health Costs,” with supporting text that says, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care,” Axios reported.
Spokespeople from the affected companies like CNN, USA Today and NPR — all of which have published flattering content about Harris in recent weeks — said they had no idea the companies were tied up in the campaign.
“While we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure it is being used appropriately and with our permission. We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice,” a Guardian spokesperson said.
Though misleading, the tactic does not violate Google’s policies because the fake ads are prominently labeled as “sponsored” and “easily distinguishable from search results.”
“They also include ‘paid for by’ disclosures so it’s clear to users who paid for them. It’s fairly common for advertisers to link out to or cite external websites, including news sites, in their ads,” a Google spokesperson added.
The shocking report comes as Harris is hiding from the very same press that she is desperately trying to skew in her favor.
The former California attorney general has refused to do significant interviews or news appearances since winning the presidential nomination more than three weeks ago.
The Harris campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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Kamala Harris’ campaign re-wrote news headlines so major publishers appear to be on HER side
Kamala Harris’ campaign wants Americans to think major news outlets are publishing overwhelming positive articles about her relatively new candidacy.
The vice president’s team is manipulating headlines and article descriptions within Google search ads that make it appear outlets like Reuters, CBS News and CNN back her presidency, an analysis by Axios reveals.
Donald Trump‘s campaign isn’t running these types of ads, according to Google’s ad transparency center.
While it doesn’t technically violate the search engine’s policies and are marked as ‘sponsored,’ some platforms have questioned whether this format can spread misinformation.
The move is an apparent effort to stoke even more positive headlines and continue the ‘honeymoon’ phase Republicans claim Harris is seeing after taking over President Joe Biden’s bid.
Meanwhile, since entering the race 24 days ago, Harris has still not participated in an interview or held a press conference.
Outrage ensued following the latest reporting from Axios, with a pro-MAGA account writing: ‘Holy smokes Kamala is now editing news headlines in her ads in an effort to rewrite history — and she’s not even getting approval from the outlets.’
‘There’s no level they won’t stoop to,’ the X user added, claiming Harris has ‘Marxist principles’ instilled by her Jamaican-American father.
A source familiar with the Democrat’s campaign ads team told Axios that they buys search ads with news links to give voters searching for information about the vice president more context.
The tactic seeks to mimic real news results and pay for them to be placed prominently in search results. And the campaign has done so well that even the news outlets have been caught off guard.
‘While we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure it is being used appropriately and with our permission,’ a spokesperson for The Guardian said to Axios.
‘We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.’
CNN, USA Today and NPR, whose links appeared in Harris for President ads, said they were unaware their brand was being featured this way.
The campaign’s targets also included editing headlines from networks like CNN, USA Today and NPR. Spokespeople for the three news outlets say they were not aware of the branding being used in ads.
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