Trump calls Google ‘crooked election interference machine’ in Truth Social rant

Donald Trump has said Google is ‘crooked’ and ‘illegal’ after allegations of the search engine ‘altering headlines’ to be used in adverts for Kamala Harris’ campaign.

He said Google will ‘pay a big price’ and shared a link to an article which claimed arris-Walz campaign had been editing headlines and descriptions in paid Google adverts.

Trump posted on Truth Social: ‘Google is a Crooked, Election Interference Machine. Totally Illegal, they will pay a big price for what they are doing!’

In multiple advertisements, the Harris-Walz campaign has been accused of editing news headlines from The Guardian, Reuters, AP, CNN and others.

Though the ads are labelled as ‘sponsored’, readers could be puzzled about who wrote the headlines.

Kartik Ahuja, founder of marketing company GrowthScribe told The Independent: ‘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 said in a statement: ‘We were not aware the Harris campaign was using our content in this manner. As a news organization, we are committed to ensuring that our stories are shared appropriately, adhering to the highest standards of integrity and accuracy.’

A Google spokesperson said the edited ads don’t violate its rules and insisted they are ‘easily distinguishable’ because they’re labeled as sponsored.

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