Trump Rant & Calls Google ‘Crooked Election Interference Machine’
Donald Trump recently criticized Google, calling the company “crooked” and accusing it of engaging in “illegal” activities. His comments came in response to allegations that Google has been “altering headlines” for use in advertisements supporting Kamala Harris’s campaign.
Trump warned that Google will “pay a big price” for its actions and shared a link to an article that purportedly showed the Harris-Walz campaign editing headlines and descriptions in their paid Google ads.
Donald Trump recently took to Truth Social, alleging that “Google is a Crooked, Election Interference Machine. Totally Illegal, they will pay a big price for what they are doing!”
Meanwhile, the Harris-Walz campaign is under scrutiny for allegedly altering news headlines from reputable sources such as The Guardian, Reuters, AP, and CNN in several of their advertisements. Although these ads are marked as ‘sponsored,’ there is concern that readers might be misled about the origins of the headlines.
Kartik Ahuja, founder of the marketing company GrowthScribe, commented to The Independent, saying, “The regulations are complex and confusing, which gives political parties the confidence to push boundaries and take advantage of lax enforcement.”
‘In theory, campaigners should seek permission from content owners before publishing it but Google doesn’t require advertisers to prove that they’ve taken the permission.
‘This loophole allows political parties to repurpose content without explicit consent from the publisher.’
Multiple news organisations have slammed the practice of changing headlines into Harris’ favour.
USA Today stated: “We were unaware that the Harris campaign was using our content in this way. As a news organization, we strive to ensure that our stories are shared properly, maintaining the highest standards of integrity and accuracy.”
A Google representative mentioned that the altered ads do not breach their regulations and emphasized that they are “easily distinguishable” due to their labeling as sponsored content.