Harris campaign accused of editing headlines to give positive spin

Kamala Harris’s campaign has edited news headlines and used them in online advertising to give the impression of favourable press coverage.

Vice-President Kamala Harris at a rally at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Picture: AFP.

Kamala Harris’s campaign has edited news headlines from big media groups and used them in online advertising to give the impression of favourable press coverage for her policy agenda.

The headlines, which are marked as “sponsored” by the campaign and are used on Google, have been used in promotional material to publicise the Democratic nominee’s position on the economy, healthcare and defending American democracy. The edited headlines include links to real articles that appear in Google Search where the original text appears.

The practice of changing headlines in Google Ads does not violate the search engine’s policies and is common in commercial advertising.

Several news groups featured in the Harris campaign’s ad blitz said they were unaware that their material was being used in this way. Other tech firms have changed their rules to block advertisers from editing news headlines to prevent the spread of misinformation.

An investigation by the news website Axios found articles from about a dozen media groups, including CNN, USA Today and CBS News, that appeared to present a positive spin on Ms Harris’s policy proposals and the momentum behind her campaign.

One advert purporting to show an article from Reuters was headlined: “Inflation is down. Under the Biden-Harris administration, the US is winning the inflation fight.” Another, linking to an Associated Press article, read: “VP Harris’s economic vision – lower costs and higher wages”.

One sponsored headline from Time that read, “Border crossings at a new low – Trump blocks border security”, appeared to be edited from an article last week titled, “Kamala Harris turns border hawk ahead of Arizona rally”.

Another, from The Guardian, read: “VP Harris fights abortion bans – Harris defends repro freedom.” That appeared to have adapted an article from two weeks ago headlined: “Harris campaign centres healthcare and abortion rights.”

The ads are accompanied by a banner that says, “Paid for by Harris for President”, but it is not obvious that the text below has been written by the campaign and not the news outlets.

Google says that ads are “easily distinguishable from search results” because they are labelled as “sponsored”. A Google spokesman told Axios that the company “provided additional levels of transparency for election ads specifically”.

Other platforms, such as Facebook, have banned the ability to edit text from news articles in ads. Facebook blocked the practice in 2017, citing “efforts to stop the spread of misinformation and false news”.

The tactic has been used by political campaigns in the US before, but is widely seen as underhand. Several of the news groups featured in the Harris ads said they would raise the matter with Google.

While Ms Harris’s campaign edits news headlines to read as though they back her policy objectives, the Vice-President is facing growing criticism for avoiding the press. Ms Harris has given no major interviews since launching her run for the White House after Joe Biden’s decision to step aside last month. Donald Trump has complained that his Democratic rival is getting a “free ride” from the media.

Ms Harris will give her first big policy speech at an event on Friday, ahead of the Democratic convention in Chicago next week.

Mr Trump’s campaign does not appear to have employed the technique on Google Ads so far in the 2024 election, but the former president has run into trouble after posting fake news headlines in his advertising.

A campaign video posted to Mr Trump’s social media account in May included references to a “unified Reich” and the German empire among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the 2024 election.

The headline appeared among a string of messages hailing a Trump victory in November, including “Trump wins!” and “Economy booms!”. Campaign staff for Mr Biden, then the Democratic candidate, pounced on the video, accusing the former president of “echoing Nazi Germany” and “parroting Mein Kampf”.

Mr Trump’s campaign blamed a staffer for posting the video to the former president’s account without noticing the references to the German empire. The video was later removed.

THE TIMES