Kamala Harris Campaign Edits News Headlines in Google Ads to Look More Favorable

Kamala Harris’ team has faced criticism for its practice of running Google ad campaigns in which it used manipulated headlines from published news articles to make them appear more favorable to her campaign.

The headlines, which appear on Google as sponsored posts, link to articles about Harris and her rival Donald Trump in nearly a dozen publications, most of which said they had no idea their headlines were being doctored and used in a political campaign.

Harris’ spin doctors changed the original published headlines and accompanying text underneath them to make them appear, at first glance on the Google search platform, as if they had been written more favorably for the vice president. The ads included a link to the original articles.

Harris’ campaign team edited headlines from nearly a dozen sources, including Independent, Guardian, Reuters Agency, CNN, APAND CBS Newsaccording to the analysis AxialTechnically, this doesn’t violate Google’s terms of service because the content is labeled “sponsored.” However, readers may be confused about who actually wrote the hyperpartisan headlines.

Spokesperson Independent condemned the practice: “It’s completely wrong for someone to put up fake headlines Independent brand. We strongly oppose this and believe it undermines what politics and journalism should be. It is misleading to conflate false headlines with any campaign to try to persuade people to vote in the election and it should be universally condemned. We will demand that they be removed.”

The rules on political ads are murky. But Harris’ campaign may be pushing the boundaries, says Kartij Ahuja, who founded Delaware-based marketing firm GrowthScribe.

“The rules are complex and confusing, which gives political parties the confidence to push the boundaries and take advantage of lax enforcement,” he said.

“In theory, activists should get permission from content owners before publishing it, but Google does not require advertisers to prove they have obtained permission. This legal loophole allows political parties to reuse content without the publisher’s explicit consent.”

The type of advertising associated with this tactic is known as pay-per-click (PPC): it’s a highly targeted way of reaching an audience based on their location and search behavior, with ads appearing at the top of Google search results.

Maximum visibility and the ability to reach specific groups of the electorate is “gold” for the Harris campaign, Ahuja said.

According to data from the Google Ad Transparency Center, the Harris for President campaign spent between $6,000 and $7,000 on a Google ad with a headline that appeared to come from Independent which was heavily edited in her favor.

The campaign included two headline edits: “VP Harris Protects Democracy — Trump Defends Jan. 6 Comments” and “Trump to Pardon J6 Rioters — VP Harris Protects Democracy.” People in Pennsylvania between the ages of 18 and 65 were targeted with two edits of the ad between Aug. 2 and Aug. 13. It was viewed between 25,000 and 30,000 times, according to the Google Ad Transparency Center.

The revelation that the campaign had edited the headlines sparked a backlash from the media.

Spokesperson Associated Press Press Agency stated that they “are not aware of this practice and would not allow it on our website.”

USA today parent group Gannett said in a statement: “We were not aware that the Harris campaign was using our content in this way. As a news organization, we are committed to ensuring that our stories are shared appropriately, with the highest standards of fairness and accuracy.”

The former journalist turned digital marketing expert noted that Harris’ campaign was essentially “passing off these made-up headlines as real news,” using the “sponsored” designation as a scapegoat.

“We’ve certainly seen a lot of this as AI technology has evolved, but not so much with political parties blatantly changing ad headlines to make them look like real news,” said Steve Skerry, digital marketing director at SCS Marketing & PR.

The Trump campaign did not use this tactic, according to data shared with Google’s Ad Transparency Center.

Harris’ campaign team did not respond to requests for comment.

A Google spokesperson said: Axial The campaign’s ads do not violate its policies and claim that they are “easily distinguishable from search results” because they are marked as “sponsored.”

“We have provided additional levels of transparency, particularly for election advertising,” the spokesperson added.