The news headline regarding Kamala Harris that appeared in your Google search results might be the creation of her campaign team.

The campaign for Harris has been promoting sponsored posts on Google that direct users to real news articles from various sources, but with unique headlines and descriptions written by her team, a situation that experts and Google describe as “common.” For instance, one advertisement linking to NPR displays the headline “Harris will Lower Health Costs,” while another referring to the Associated Press states “VP Harris’s Economic Vision – Lower Costs and Higher Wages.” These advertisements were initially highlighted by Axios.

Even though other campaigns have employed similar sponsored posts in accordance with Google’s guidelines, some marketing professionals express concerns that these practices may lead to misinformation and a declining trust in media.

“The modified headlines may be misleading at best and could spread misinformation at worst,” remarked Andy Rohm, a marketing educator at Loyola Marymount University in California. “This tactic could harm the reputation of the Harris-Walz campaign because it appears inconsistent with the campaign’s declared values.”

According to Google’s ad transparency center, Harris’s advertisements have also included links from other news outlets like Reuters, Time, CNN, the Associated Press, the Independent, the Guardian, and YSL News.

“We were unaware that the Harris campaign was utilizing our content this way,” mentioned Lark-Marie Anton, a spokesperson for YSL News’s parent company Gannett. “As a news organization, we prioritize the proper sharing of our stories, maintaining the highest standards of integrity and accuracy.”

The Harris campaign has opted not to provide comments for this report. Donald Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for input, and Google’s ad transparency center did not display similar ads from Trump’s campaign.

Google released a statement indicating that it is “fairly common” for advertisers to link to or reference external websites in their ads. The search engine distinguishes such advertisements by marking them as sponsored and providing a “paid for by” disclosure.

Nevertheless, despite the sponsored label, these advertisements raise “significant ethical issues,” according to Colin Campbell, an associate marketing professor at the University of San Diego.

He pointed out that this becomes especially critical when consumers cannot distinguish between online advertisements.

“Many consumers might form opinions based solely on the altered headlines, without ever accessing the actual articles,” Campbell noted. “Even those who do click through and read the articles may feel deceived upon realizing the disparity between the headlines and the actual content, which can further diminish trust in the media.”

Gallup’s latest survey on media trust conducted in 2023 revealed that only 32% of Americans have faith in mass media to deliver news in a complete, equitable, and accurate manner, matching Gallup’s previous all-time low reading from 2016.

Campbell suggested that while Google may be reluctant to prohibit these advertisements, “news organizations ought to push for their cessation to uphold journalistic integrity.”

These types of advertisements have faced criticism in the past. Facebook stopped permitting ads with modified headlines in 2017 as part of a movement against misinformation, labeling it “a platform that has been exploited to disseminate false news.”

However, it is not unusual for ads to cite news organizations according to Pinar Yildirim, an associate professor of marketing and economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Movie trailers, for example, frequently incorporate excerpts from critic reviews.

Yildirim elucidated that as long as an advertisement does not misrepresent the content of a news article, serve as clickbait, or seek unwarranted credit by referencing the publisher’s name, then linking back to a news organization “should not be a point of contention.”

“From a commercial advertising standpoint, I think these practices are acceptable,” she stated.