Harris Campaign, Google Could Face Lawsuit From North Dakota Outlet WDAY Over Headline Scheme
“They lied to every single person that saw that ad. It’s misleading, it’s dishonest, and it hurts us as the company, our news brand.”
WDAY, an outlet located in Fargo, North Dakota, might file a lawsuit against the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign and Google after it emerged that the campaign manipulated its headlines in search ads to make her look like it supported her, according to The Daily Caller.
On Tuesday, Axios reported that Harris’s campaign had edited news headlines to appear favorable to her within Google search ads.
The campaign has rewritten headlines since August 3, targeting over a dozen outlets, including local outlets.
The report named WDAY, a family-owned outlet:
WDAY’s President blasted Google and the Harris campaign for the deception in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller.
“We feel insulted and violated by what was done here,” Steve Hallstrom, the President and Managing Partner of Flag Family Media, which owns WDAY Radio, told the Daily Caller.
“You have a political campaign that used our news brand and our URL to effectively lie to people about the headline we wrote,” Hallstrom said. “They lied to every single person that saw that ad. It’s misleading, it’s dishonest, and it hurts us as the company, our news brand. So as of today, we’re starting to make some calls here. We are considering all of our options here, including legal action.”
A WDAY manipulated headline read, “Harris Picks Tim Walz – 215,000 MN Families Win.”
The links in the ads take the reader to the original articles, but those don’t match the headline or supporting text in the ads.
More from The Daily Caller:
“We never wrote anything close to what is alleged here,” Hallstrom said. “They took two different unrelated stories that we did have on our website, sort of mashed them together, and then from there, they rewrote a few words to make it look like our news organization was cheering on the selection of Walz.”
Hallstrom shared the two news stories he believes the campaign manipulated with the Daily Caller. The stories ran the headlines “Walz selected as Kamala Harris’ VP pick for 2024 Election” and “Minnesota Child Tax Credit benefits 215,000 Minnesota families.”
Hallstrom doesn’t understand why the Harris campaign thought it was bright idea to change headlines: “There are things that are right and there are things that are wrong, and this clearly is wrong. This is clearly leading, it’s clearly deceptive, it’s dishonest, and it was done obviously recklessly without thinking about what’s really happening here. And I don’t know who on the Harris staff made the decision that this was a good strategy. But I can’t believe that on the whole that that organization, that campaign would, top to bottom, feel like this is a tactful and a principled approach to getting the word out about their candidate.”
Hallstrom added: “We don’t want to let this go. We want to fight on this one.”
The actions don’t violate any Google policies, even though the ads look realistic. Axios pointed out that the campaign does not clarify that the image is an ad and that they wrote the headline, not the media organization.
Google told Axios that the ads’ “Sponsored” label makes them “easily distinguishable from Search results.”
But the practice is a fine line.
Facebook doesn’t allow “advertisers to edit text from Instant Article news links in their ads in 2017, citing its ‘continuing efforts to stop the spread of misinformation and false news.'”
The Independent UK told The Daily Caller: “It is entirely wrong for anyone to put fake headlines under ‘The Independent’ brand. We object fiercely and believe it is undermining of what politics and journalism should be about. It is misleading to muddle fake headlines with any campaign trying to persuade people to vote in an election, and must be widely condemned. We will be seeking their removal.”
The Associated Press: “AP was neither aware of this practice nor would we allow these to run on our website.”
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b/c lying is what communists do
and speaking of lying quid pro quo bernie sanders and now rfkjr:
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign reached out to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign to arrange a meeting about a possible role in her administration if he drops out of the race and endorses her, a Kennedy campaign official and a Democratic official told CNN.
Was it dropping out from the campaign? His plan all along?
Google was spreading disinformation.
Shouldn’t the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), the World Federation of Advertisers National, including — Group M (“the world’s biggest advertising buying, media buying agency, period”), Unilever, Orsted, Diagio, Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola, and Adidas be demonetizing Google ?
Busting up the Google empire into competitive entities seems more appropriate each week. Anti trust actions being applied more vigorously would go long way to ending the collision of big tech and big gov’t.
they thought it was easier to do it themselves instead of asking the media to do it. more efficient that way. they see the media as just another arm of the campaign and it’s difficult to blame them since most media act that way.
Wasn’t there a guy that got jail time for a satirical suggestion that hilliary voters should vote on a different day?
These ads seem far worse…
There is an ad where she is acting as a tough prosecutor in California. One of the pictures showing here against the background of several law enforcement officers including two Sheriffs – Robinson from Kings County and Boudreaux from Tulare County. Both are fuming that she pretty much used them as props and make look as if they are supporting her. They are adamant that they don’t!