The campaigns of two Democratic candidates for Senate and the campaign arm of Senate Democrats have used Google Search ads in the past year to manipulate news headlines and article descriptions presented to internet users.
A Washington Examiner analysis of Google’s Ad Transparency Center reveals the Senate campaigns of Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) used the tactic this year against their GOP opponents, promoting real news links but with previews displaying alternate headlines and subtexts crafted by the campaigns.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee also deployed the strategy several times last year against Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL), both of whom are up for reelection this year.
The approach has been used heavily by the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, which this month has taken out Google Search ads on stories from nearly a dozen news outlets but rewritten the headlines and descriptions within the ad so it appears more favorable to Harris.
Slotkin’s campaign took out a Google Search ad this week in battleground Michigan to an article from the Heartland Signal, a left-leaning outlet tied to progressive Chicago radio station WCPT 820AM. The campaign’s ad targeted her rival, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI), with the fictitious headline “Mike Rogers Works for Himself.” The description, which the campaign also wrote, read, “Mike Rogers cashed in on his DC connections, helping Chinese tech companies across the US.”
The Rogers campaign last week, prior to the Google Search ad, sent cease-and-desist letters to TV stations airing a Slotkin ad making similar claims, which the Republican’s campaign has denied. The closely watched race is a “toss-up” that could determine Senate control.
Slotkin’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, the Rogers campaign accused Slotkin of a “desperate attempt to gaslight Michiganders.”
“Slotkin needs fake headlines because her actual record is indefensible; Selling out Michigan workers to the Chinese, opening our border to drugs and violent crime, and raising the cost of gas and groceries on families living paycheck to paycheck,” said Rogers communications director Chris Gustafson. “It’s really no surprise she’s continuing her lies and altering headlines in a desperate attempt to gaslight Michiganders, but they won’t be fooled by her DC values.”
Schiff, who’s facing Republican and former baseball star Steve Garvey in deep-blue California, ran a Google Search ad in the weeks leading up to the state’s open primary in March using a Fox News article. In an apparent attempt to boost Garvey and avoid facing another Democrat in the general election, Schiff’s campaign was short and sweet with its desired headline of “Steve Harvey.” The description said he’s “the leading Republican candidate in California’s Senate race.”
Schiff’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The DSCC in September 2023 took out four Google Search ads on articles from the progressive American Independent and retitled them “Social Security At Risk.” They altered the descriptions on each of the ads to target either Cruz or Scott.
The two about Cruz read “Ted Cruz’s government shutdown would raise your costs” and “Ted Cruz is threatening a shutdown.” The two on Scott read the same but substituted his name in the place of Cruz.
The DSCC told the Washington Examiner in a statement that the premise they manipulated headlines and descriptions was “completely false.”
“Rick Scott and Ted Cruz have a long record of threatening Social Security, and we are making sure voters know about it,” DSCC spokesman Tommy Garcia said.
Google Search ads are labeled as sponsored posts, and those from political campaigns list “paid for by” disclosures. But critics say the scheme, while allowed by Google, is deceptive to voters, particularly those seeking more information about certain candidates or races.
Facebook, in an effort to “stop the spread of misinformation and false news,” banned the ability in 2017 of advertisers to alter news headlines.
In Harris’s case, her campaign using headlines and descriptions of its choice has caught more mainstream and nonpartisan outlets off guard, including USA Today, CBS News, the Associated Press, PBS, Time, and the Guardian.
“While we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure it is being used appropriately and with our permission,” a Guardian spokesperson told Axios. “We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.”
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The ads from Slotkin, Schiff, and DSCC do not currently display the proper “paid for by” disclaimer when viewing them in Google’s Ad Library, which the company has said is due to a technical glitch. All the campaigns have verified Google advertising accounts.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Google, Fox News, and Heartland Signal for comment. The American Independent could not be reached for comment.
