Axios has reported that Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has been found to have edited headlines from various media outlets and displayed them as sponsored ads in Americans' Google searches.
Over the past 10 days, the Harris campaign has edited the headlines and descriptions of nearly a dozen media outlets found in Google search ads and displayed them as Harris campaign search ads, the report said. AxiosSeveral media outlets, including CNN, USA Today and NPR, told the outlet they were unaware that their stories had been manipulated to promote Harris' campaign.
“We understand that some organisations want to associate themselves with The Guardian's trusted brand, but we need to ensure it is used appropriately and with permission. We will be contacting Google to obtain further information about this practice,” a Guardian spokesperson told the outlet.
Other media outlets that ran the ad include The Independent UK, The Associated Press, PBS, CBS News, Time and local North Dakota radio station WDAY Radio, Axios reported.
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (right) and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (left) appear during a campaign rally at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, August 10, 2024. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
One example of Harris' ad links to an NPR article with an edited headline that reads, “Harris will lower the cost of health care,” Axios reported. The ad is then captioned, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of quality, affordable health care,” according to the outlet.
While the ads are sponsored by the campaign and clearly marked as such, Axios noted that it's not immediately clear that the blurb for the article was written by the Harris campaign. Axios said the Harris campaign's latest gimmick doesn't violate Google's policies, and the search engine believes the “sponsored” tag provides enough context for readers.
A source familiar with the Harris campaign's advertising team told the outlet that the campaign is looking to use ads attached to various news articles as a way to give voters “more context.”
The Harris campaign's latest maneuver could add to the number of questions the vice president has yet to answer. Harris has yet to give an interview or press conference since launching her campaign three weeks ago. To highlight Harris' media-avoidance and policies, the Trump campaign plans to have Sen. J.D. Vance shadow the vice president on the campaign trail, a source previously told The Daily Caller. (Related article: 'The dam will break': Trump campaign insider predicts backlash against Kamala's underground campaign)
“To drive that point home, Senator Vance and President Trump are appearing without Kamala Harris,” a campaign spokesperson previously told The Caller.
“Senator Vance is doing the same thing that Kamala Harris is going to – going to the same places she is going to but refusing to take questions. Anyone can show up in state, read from a script or a teleprompter and leave after 20 minutes. That's exactly what Joe Biden did and it didn't work for him. We will not tolerate it,” the spokesperson continued.
