To Kamala Harris’ liking, the rewriting of her story and profile by the dedicated left-wing media is not being diligent or swift enough. Therefore, she has decided it is better to rewrite the headlines herself and keep the masthead that wrote the original article to lend credibility to her story. Some modifications of which the affected media were never informed nor asked for authorization to proceed. To do so, the vice president’s campaign has used paid ads from google, as can be seen on the technology giant’s website Ads Transparency Center.
The alarm was sounded by a media source not typically suspected of sympathizing with Donald Trump— Axios. On Tuesday night, the newspaper charged that “the Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and descriptions within Google search ads to make it appear that The Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are backing her.”
Misleading ads that don’t violate Google’s policies
Although the tech giant assures that Kamala’s team does not violate its commercial policies, the truth is that it generates confusion, causing people to take for granted that the promoted headline is the one that the author of the article in question established from the beginning. As can be seen in the image, it is true that it is clearly apparent that it is content paid for by the VP campaign, although the link is to the news platform on which the article originally appeared.
Upset among affected media outlets
Axios contacted several of those affected, who stressed that no one from the Kamala campaign had contacted them. Some, notably upset, such as The Guardian, through a spokesman, announced that they would contact Google for more information:
“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 Google spokesman stressed that it is clear that these are paid ads, with the label “sponsored” prominently displayed above them: “Electoral advertisers are required to complete an identity verification process and we prominently display information on ads that clearly indicates who has paid for the ad.”
In addition, the technology company said they have detected a technical glitch in its ad library that caused some ads to appear without the necessary information that Google requires when they are published. A company spokesman said that they are investigating what happened.
Advertising strategy or disinformation
However, Axios recalled that “in the past, platforms have questioned whether this type of format can spread disinformation.” As a counterpoint, Facebook blocked back in 2017 any possibility that an advertiser could edit link texts to Instant Article news in its commercial content as part of its policy of “continued efforts to stop the spread of disinformation and fake news.”
Sources close to Kamala’s campaign, meanwhile, claimed that they contract ads to appear in a prominent position in searches in which they include links to real news stories to which they add more context to voters seeking information about Vice President Harris.
A visit to the paid ads posted on Google by Donald Trump’s campaign makes it clear that this is not a practice the former president is using.