Questions raised after Kamala Harris campaign accused of altering headlines in Google ads

News outlets have noticed the headlines of their published articles on Google search do not match the ones written on their websites.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is reportedly modifying headlines on news articles within sponsored search advertisements on Google to appear as if those outlets are seemingly partial toward her presidential bid.

While this ad tactic isn’t new nor does it breach any policies, it does raise questions for readers and news organizations.

First reported by Axios, the ads feature headlines and descriptions that mimic a real news article. Shown by Google’s ad transparency center, some news outlets included in the advertisements are NPR, CBS News, Associated Press, USA Today and Reuters. While the ads say they are sponsored, it’s not clearly noted that the headline and description that accompanies the searched article is written by the advertiser, not the news outlet.

“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 Axios.

AP spokesperson Patrick Maks told USA Today the publication “was neither aware of this practice nor would we allow these to run on our website.”

Mimicking news articles is not a new campaigning tactic. In 2017, Facebook banned the ability of advertisers to edit text from Instant Article news links in their ads to mitigate the spread of misinformation. In 2023, the social media site got rid of Instant Article altogether.

Axios reported that the ad technique is commonly used in commercial advertising and that mimicking news search results does not violate Google’s policies since ads on the search screen are labeled as sponsored.

Sara Fischer, author of the Axios article, took to X, formerly Twitter, to share her opinion that Harris’ campaign is doing “nothing wrong.”

Harris camp doing nothing wrong and Google, which is pretty strict about banning spammy ads, doesn’t see it as a consumer harm. News outlets just collateral damage in this weird ads tactic https://t.co/xEAiW3JWNC

— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 13, 2024

The article’s release created a debate on social media about the ethics of this campaign tactic.

Former President Donald Trump responded to the news on Truth Social asking if the tactic is legal.

He has since accused Google of attempting to “rig” the election.

According to the ad transparency center, Trump’s campaign has purchased text advertisements during this election cycle but not in the same format as Harris’ campaign. One ad included the title “Join Biden to Destroy America” with a link to President Joe Biden’s campaign site. Another had the title “Biden’s 10 Biggest Lies Ranked — The Real Truth About Biden” attached to a link to factcheckbiden.com, a Republican-backed website. Both ads ran from June 28 to 30.

Newsweek reported one example when Harris’ campaign bought an ad to appear on Google from Aug. 7 to 13. The advertisement shows a link to Reuters with the headline “Inflation Is Down.” The description of the sponsored post reads, “Under the Biden-Harris administration, ‘the U.S. is winning the inflation fight.’ ”

Harris’ campaign has not addressed the situation.