The Kamala Harris campaign may find itself embroiled in legal action after a report revealed they deceptively edited headlines, using them in Google ads.
North Dakota-based WDAY Radio was one of the outlets the vice president’s campaign allegedly twisted a headline from, making it appear as though they were supportive of the presumptive nominee. They attempted to reach out to the campaign to have them stop using the deceptive ad but did not receive a response.
WDAY is operated by Flag Family Media, who spoke up about the incident in an interview on Wednesday.
“We feel insulted and violated by what was done here,” said Flag Family Media President and Managing Partner Steve Hallstrom. “A political campaign used our news brand and our URL to lie to people about the headline we wrote.”
“We didn’t write that headline. We didn’t write anything close to it. We didn’t write a news story about that. They lied to every single person that saw that ad. It’s misleading, it’s dishonest and it really hurts our news brand.”
He said the campaign was objectively wrong and they are considering all options moving forward.
“And we are considering all our options here, including legal action,” Hallstrom stated. “What’s been done here is wrong. This isn’t a grey area matter.”
According to a bombshell Axios report, WDAY was not the only victim of this deceitful campaign tactic to make the headlines appear more favorable of the vice president.
“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,” the outlet explained.
“Spokespeople for brands such as CNN, USA Today, and NPR, whose links appeared in Harris for President ads, said they were unaware their brand was being featured this way,” the report adds.
It should be noted that the campaign for former President Donald Trump has not utilized this tactic, though Axios says it has been used by other campaigns in the past.
“A source familiar with the Harris campaign’s ads team said the campaign buys search ads with news links to give voters searching for information about Vice President Harris more context,” the article continues.
Harris campaign manipulated news headlines for Google ads to pretend major sites are pro-Kamala https://t.co/YmK5WllDWb via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) August 14, 2024
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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