Headline Roundup • August 15th, 2024
AllSides Finds Harris Campaign Changing News Headlines into Google Ads, Axios Picks Up Story
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Kamala Harris’s campaign is misrepresenting the content of news articles in Google Search results as part of an advertising effort, falsely implying major news outlets have advocated for her candidacy, an AllSides investigation found.
The Details: Some of the Google ads display pro-Harris slogans while linking to articles mostly from news sources AllSides rates as Lean Left, such as AP, PBS, and CNN, and some Center-rated sources such as Reuters.
For Context: The campaign spent roughly $750,000 placing text-based ads in Google in August, according to Google Ads Transparency Center data; this number includes news outlet ads and campaign website ads. It targeted swing states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Michigan.
Our Investigation: AllSides began investigating the matter on August 6 when a team member noticed a misleading Harris ad on Google. We then researched the matter extensively and did not find the Trump or Kennedy campaigns to employ the same practice.
How The Media Covered It: AllSides alerted Axios (Lean Left bias) and other major news outlets to the trend. Many sources picked it up; few credited AllSides. The story has been widely covered across the political spectrum, from CNN (Lean Left bias) to Glenn Greenwald (Center bias) to Sean Hannity of Fox News (Right bias). Former President Trump and X owner Elon Musk have also posted in response to the report. USA TODAY (Lean Left bias) said it reached out to the Harris campaign about misrepresenting its content.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Julie Mastrine/AllSides
Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is misrepresenting the content of news articles in Google search results as part of a new advertising effort, falsely implying the news outlets have issued direct advocacy for her candidacy, an AllSides investigation found.
Some of the Google ads display pro-Harris slogans while linking to articles mostly from news sources AllSides rates as Lean Left, such as AP, PBS, and CNN and some Center-rated sources such as Reuters.
In many cases, the original headlines and summaries appearing in the Google search results have been altered to appear more supportive of Harris than...
Axios visuals
The Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and descriptions within Google search ads that make it appear as if the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are on her side, Axios has found.
Why it matters: It's a common practice in the commercial advertising world that doesn't violate Google's policies, but the ads mimic real news results from Search closely enough that they have news outlets caught off guard.
According to Google's ad transparency center, the Trump campaign isn't running these types of ads, but this technique has been used...
POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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.
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