After years of complaining about misinformation and “fake news,” Democrats are pushing some of it on their own in a desperate effort to maintain their hold of the White House.
It’s not the first time the Democrats have been caught using propaganda in the name of “defending democracy,” their favorite talking point.
The Harris campaign has been found altering headlines and descriptions within Google search ads, creating the impression that major news outlets like The Guardian, Reuters, and CBS News are endorsing the Democrat for president.
USA Today reports:
Harris’ team has been launching sponsored posts on Google that link to real news content from various publishers but feature customized headlines and descriptions crafted by her campaign, a practice experts and Google called “common.” One sponsored ad that links to NPR’s website features the headline “Harris will Lower Health Costs.” Another that links to the Associated Press reads “VP Harris’s Economic Vision – Lower Costs and Higher Wages.” The advertisements were first reported by Axios.
While these sponsored posts have been used by other campaigns and comply with Google’s policies, some marketing experts worry they could fuel misinformation and distrust in the media.
“The doctored headlines risk coming across as misleading at best and misinformation at worst,” said Andy Rohm, a marketing professor at Loyola Marymount University in California. “This approach can damage a brand such as the Harris-Walz campaign in that it seems to be incongruous with the campaign’s stated values.”
Google’s ad transparency center shows a number of other publishers featured in Harris ads, including Reuters, Time, CNN, the Associated Press, the Independent, the Guardian and USA TODAY.
The ads include links to actual articles from these news outlets, but the headlines and supporting text have been modified to align with the Harris campaign’s objectives.
For instance, an ad linked to a Guardian article displayed a headline reading, “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans – Harris Defends Repro Freedom,” with supporting text stating, “VP Harris is a champion for reproductive freedom and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.” Another ad connected to an NPR story bore the headline, “Harris Will Lower Health Costs,” accompanied by text asserting, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care.”
Despite the ads being labeled as “Sponsored,” it’s not immediately clear to viewers that the headlines and descriptions are crafted by the Harris campaign rather than the news outlets themselves.
A spokesperson for The Guardian expressed concern, stating that while they understand the desire to align with the Guardian’s trusted brand, such usage must be appropriate and authorized. The spokesperson added that The Guardian would be contacting Google for more information about this practice.
Google maintains that these ads do not breach any of its rules, emphasizing that they are clearly labeled as “Sponsored” and are distinct from regular search results. A Google spokesperson highlighted that the platform provides additional transparency for election ads, including mandatory identity verification and in-ad disclosures that clarify who paid for the ad.
A source familiar with the Harris campaign’s strategy explained that the search ads are intended to provide voters with more context when they seek information about Vice President Harris. The campaign, according to the source, has complied with all of Google’s rules, although a glitch in Google’s Ad Library caused some ads to appear without the required disclosures, a problem Google is currently investigating.
Google recently lost a massive antitrust lawsuit against the company for how it handles its search engine.
The massive tech player recently admitted that it has been purposely undermining the Trump campaign. The National Review recently noted that “an attorney for Google’s parent company admitted that the autocomplete tool for its search function did not include the assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump. The admission came after the apparent search issues drew controversy online.
Alphabet Inc.’s counsel informed the House Judiciary Committee that bugs in Google’s autocomplete tool prevented it from predicting searches about the attempt on Trump’s life. The built-in protections that Google installed for searches related to political violence were “out of date,” the attorney said, and prevented the search autocomplete feature from generating results on the assassination attempt against Trump three weeks ago.
Google also claimed that an algorithmic error was responsible for broadcasting news stories about Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s 2024 rival, when users searched Trump’s name.”
Fake audience at airport CG
If democrats are complaining about something or accusing someone of doing something wrong you can be damn sure that is exactly what the democrats themselves are doing.