US Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign team have been running advertisements on Google search results which link to real news articles from legitimate sources, but alter the headlines and descriptions in order to portray Democratic presidential candidate more favorably. This practice was highlighted in an Axios report on Tuesday.
The Harris campaign has been using these advertisements since at least August 3rd, with the ads linking to stories by “nearly a dozen” news outlets such as CNN, AP, CBS, NPR, The Guardian, USA Today and others. These search advertisements have been designed in such a way that they closely mimic real news results and have the potential to mislead users.
Although Axios acknowledged this practice is common, it noted that, according to Google’s ad transparency center, Harris’ political rival Donald Trump has not used these types of misleading advertisements.
The ads from the Harris campaign have been edited in such a way that they make it appear as if major publishers like The Guardian, Reuters, and CBS News are endorsing her candidacy. However, some of these outlets claim to be unaware of their brands being used in this manner. A spokesperson for The Guardian stated that the company would be “reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.
Despite concerns over potential misuse of their platform, Google has maintained that this practice does not violate their rules as the ads are clearly labeled as “sponsored” and therefore easily distinguishable from legitimate search results. However, the company did admit that there was a “technical glitch” in Google’s Ad Library which caused some of the ads to appear without the necessary disclosures. A Google spokesperson pledged to investigate this issue and insisted that for years the company has been providing additional levels of transparency for election ads specifically.
This incident raises concerns over how political campaigns are using digital advertising platforms to influence public opinion, as well as highlighting potential shortcomings in the measures taken by tech companies to maintain transparency and prevent misuse of their services.