The same leftists who have accused Donald Trump, Elon Musk and others of spreading “disinformation” have been caught spreading “disinformation” themselves.
Axios revealed this week that the Harris campaign is rewriting Google News headlines for stories in an effort to make it appear as though left-leaning mainstream media is endorsing the campaign.
Given the media's dislike of Donald Trump and their apparent support for Harris, it's unclear why the campaign would rewrite the headline for that reason.
After hearing some criticism about the revelation, Axios reporter Sarah Fischer denied the scoop was anything more than a hoax: She wrote to X that Harris had done nothing wrong.
Honey, rewrite it!
“An Axios investigation found that the Harris campaign edited news headlines and descriptions in Google search ads to make major media outlets, including The Guardian, Reuters and CBS News, appear to be on the campaign's side,” Fisher wrote.
The rewrite doesn't violate Google policies, but “the ads so closely mimic actual news search results that they catch news organizations off guard,” the company said.
The Trump campaign does not appear to have engaged in any high-tech fraud.
“While the ad says it's sponsored, it's not immediately clear that the text accompanying the actual news link was written by the campaign, and not the media publication itself,” Fisher continued.
The Guardian has contacted Google for “further information” about the cybercrime, while CNN, NPR and USA Today, whose links appeared in Harris's adverts, said they were “unaware their brands were being featured in this way.”
Fisher explained:
In 2017, Facebook banned advertisers' ability to edit the text of Instant Articles news links in their ads, citing “ongoing efforts to stop the spread of misinformation and false news.”
Google claims that ads on search are prominently labeled “sponsored” so they are “easily distinguishable from search results.”
A Google spokesperson said over the years that the company has “provided additional transparency, particularly around election ads.”
A source familiar with the Harris campaign's advertising team said the campaign is buying search ads with news links to provide more context for voters looking for information about the vice president.
Harris' disinformation squad rewrote headlines from more than a dozen news organizations, including PBS, CNN, CBS, Time, The Guardian, Associated Press, National Public Radio and the UK Independent.
Even local radio stations are not immune to the Harris campaign's tactics.
The ads link to actual news articles, but “the headline and supporting text have been altered to make the article appear to support the Harris campaign's causes,” Fisher said.
For example, an advert placed next to a Guardian article has the headline “VP Harris opposes abortion bans, VP Harris defends reproductive freedom” with a supporting line under the headline: “VP Harris is a champion of reproductive freedom and will block President Trump's abortion ban.”
The ad, which links to the NPR article, reads, “Harris will lower the cost of health care,” with a back line that reads, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of quality, affordable health care.”
The mainstream media industry is already battling allegations of bias, and these ads, even if they comply with Google's rules, could make the media more vulnerable to accusations of partisanship.
“Some of these outlets may not want to be seen as promoting a particular campaign, which means they're potentially biased against that campaign,” said John Gable, co-founder and CEO of AllSide, a nonpartisan firm that rates media bias.
Another Reuters headline read: “Inflation Falls: 'US is Winning the War on Inflation' Under Biden-Harris Administration.”
Going back?
Despite this assessment, Trump-hating leftists rebelled against Fischer's revelations, and he defended X's campaign, Fox News reported.
“The Harris campaign has done nothing wrong, and Google, which is pretty strict about banning spam ads, doesn't see it as a consumer harm,” Fisher wrote to X. “News organizations are just collateral damage in this bizarre advertising strategy.”
Glenn Greenwald, one of the few (if not the only) honest left-leaning journalists, pointed out the obvious.
“Shocked to see Axios published a negative investigative piece on Kamala's campaign yesterday,” he wrote to X. “But as soon as @sarafischer was attacked for it, she quickly denied her scoop, saying it was no big deal and Kamala did nothing wrong.”
Trump's disinformation
But a typical left-wing disinformation campaign is hardly surprising coming from the Harris camp, and it was part of the Biden-Harris campaign before Democratic elites forced President Joe Biden to step down.
When X owner Elon Musk interviewed President Trump, the Harris team sent him an email accusing him of trying to control American democracy, the New York Post reported.
“It is not enough that Mr. Musk has pledged to donate millions of dollars to help Trump's reelection,” the email said.
He is using the platform he bought, one of the largest social media sites in the world, to spread Trump's insane and hateful agenda to millions of users.
In July, the Biden-Harris Coalition falsely claimed Musk was donating $45 million per month to the Trump campaign.
“Musk has already ruined Twitter by flooding the platform with hate speech and misinformation,” the campaign wrote. “Now Musk is using his enormous fortune to try to control our democracy.”
Musk endorsed Trump minutes after Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate the former president on July 13, just over a week before Biden was forced to drop out of the race.
Both he and Trump have denied claims that the Tesla tycoon has pledged to donate $45 million a month.
