Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has been caught editing various outlets’ headlines to appear in Americans’ Google searches as sponsored ads, according to an Axios report.
Over the last ten days, the Harris campaign has edited the headlines and descriptions of almost a dozen outlets’ articles found through Google search advertisements to appear as search ads from the Harris campaign, according to Axios. Several of those outlets, including CNN, USA Today and NPR, told the outlet they were not aware that their articles were being manipulated for Harris campaign ads.
“While we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure it is being used appropriately and with our permission. We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice,” a Guardian spokesperson told the outlet.
Other outlets used in the ads include The Independent UK, AP, PBS, CBS News, Time and WDAY Radio, a local North Dakota radio station, Axios reported.
One example of the Harris’ ads links to an NPR article, edited to have the headline read “Harris Will Lower Health Costs,” Axios reported. The ad then has the description, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care,” the outlet found.
Though the ads are sponsored by the campaign and indicate such, Axios noted that it is not at first clear that the text promoting the article is written by Harris’ team. The Harris campaign’s latest gimmick does not violate Google’s policies, according to Axios, and the search engine believes its “sponsored” tag provides enough context for a viewer.
The campaign is trying to use the ads attached to various news stories as a way to give voters “more context,” a source familiar with Harris campaign’s ads team told the outlet.
The Harris campaign’s latest stunt could add to the growing number of questions the vice president has yet to answer. Since launching her campaign three weeks ago, Harris has yet to do a sit-down interview or a press conference. In an attempt to highlight Harris’ media avoidance and policies, the Trump campaign plans to have Senator J.D. Vance trail the vice president on the campaign trail, insiders previously told the Daily Caller. (RELATED: ‘Dam Is Going To Break’: Trump Insiders Forecast Counterattack Against Kamala’s Basement Campaign)
“To highlight that, Senator Vance and President Trump are showing up where Kamala Harris is not,” a campaign spokesperson previously told the Caller.
“Senator Vance is doing the same by going to the same
places that Kamala Harris is going but refusing to take questions.
Anyone can show up in a state and read off of a script, off a
teleprompter, and then leave 20 minutes later, that’s exactly what Joe
Biden was doing, and it didn’t work for him. We’re not going to let it
work,” the spokesperson continued. [SOURCE]
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