Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris' campaign team has resorted to an interesting method to appear to have the support of major news organizations. They changed the headlines that appear in Google search results without the knowledge of the news organizations. According to Axios' report on Tuesday, these modified headlines, which are shown with the statement "Paid for by Harris for President," include major media organizations such as The Guardian, Reuters, CBS News, Associated Press, PBS, as well as smaller publications like WDay Radio. These advertisements link to the original news articles, but the headlines and descriptions have been rearranged to support the 59-year-old presidential candidate. For example, an article taken from The Guardian is presented with the headline "Vice President Harris Fights Abortion Bans," while another linked to an NPR news article has been changed to "Harris Will Reduce Healthcare Costs." Spokespersons for affected organizations such as CNN, USA Today, and NPR stated that they were not aware of this campaign. The spokesperson for The Guardian announced that they will investigate the situation and contact Google. Although this practice is misleading, it does not violate Google's policies. This is because the advertisements are clearly labeled as "sponsored" and can be distinguished from regular search results. This incident coincides with a period when Harris has been avoiding the press. Despite being elected as a presidential candidate for over three weeks, she refuses to give important interviews or appear on news programs.
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