A North Dakotan news outlet is considering legal action against the Harris campaign after it edited headlines for advertisements.
The president of WDAY Radio, based in Fargo, North Dakota, told The Daily Caller that is feels “insulted and violated by what was done here.”
“You have a political campaign that used our news brand and our URL to effectively lie to people about the headline we wrote,” President and Managing Partner of Flag Family Media Steve Hallstrom said. “They lied to every single person that saw that ad. It’s misleading, it’s dishonest, and it hurts us as the company, our news brand. So as of today, we’re starting to make some calls here. We are considering all of our options here, including legal action.”
The ads using WDAY’s website, deceptively suggesting the radio station supported Harris, read, “Harris Picks Tim Walz – 215,000 MN Families Win,” and “Learn About VP Pick Tim Walz – Harris Picks Tim Walz.”
Hallstrom explained to the outlet that the Harris campaign “took two different unrelated stories that we did have on our website, sort of mashed them together, and then from there, they rewrote a few words to make it look like our news organization was cheering on the selection of Walz.”
Several other media entities told The Daily Caller they were unaware of the campaign’s strategy.
An Associated Press spokesperson said they were “neither aware of this practice nor would we allow these to run on our website,” while Reuters said it was “looking into the matter.”
According to Google, the ads do not violate its policies. Some of the advertisements, however, did not feature the “sponsored” label, which Google claimed was a “glitch.”
“Election advertisers are required to complete an identity verification process and we prominently display in-ad disclosures that clearly show people who paid for the ad,” a Google spokesperson told Axios.
