FARGO, ND (Valley News Live) – Steve Hallstrom first learned of the controversy from a national source.

In recent weeks, the Harris/Walz campaign has come under fire for creating campaign ads on Google that link to existing articles but change the headlines on the Google landing page. In the case of WDAY Radio, the ad looked like this:

In fact, WDAY has never published an article with that title. The closest it comes is a combination of the stories “Walz selected as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate for 2024 election” and “Minnesota child tax credit benefits 215,000 Minnesota families.”

However, the combination of these two aspects suggests a certain political tendency which, according to Hallstrom, is completely contrary to their business practices.

“There’s a way to do that, that’s part of the game,” he said, referring to the use of headlines for political advertising. “And then there’s a line you cross by implying – or outright saying – that this station ran this headline. That’s what they did to us.”

They weren’t the only ones treated this way. The New York Post reports that major media outlets like Reuters and the Associated Press experienced similar manipulation. That’s how Hallstrom learned of the manipulation on WDAY – a national reporter called him and asked for comment.

Technically, the campaign did not violate any of Google’s rules. Its actions are perfectly acceptable under the search engine’s terms, as it openly denied that the ad was advertising and did not change the headline on the news channel’s website.

Hallstrom still doesn’t accept this as the new norm. He has been in touch with the campaign and Google. If there is no progress on these fronts, he says the broadcaster is considering legal action. What form that might take remains to be seen.

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