Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has altered headlines from news outlets in Google search results to appear more favorable to her, according to a report published Tuesday.

The articles, which were changed without the knowledge of the outlets, were then reposted on Google as advertisements for the Harris campaign and included a banner that reads, “Paid for by Harris for President.” 

Among the news outlets whose headlines were changed for the pro-Harris advertisements include The Associated Press, Reuters, The Independent, CBS News, CNN, NPR and The Guardian, according to data collected by Axios. Even local outlets such as WDAY Radio in North Dakota saw their headlines changed to be more pro-Harris. 

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In some cases, the headlines and subheads were both changed to suggest that the outlets were on her side. 

For example, an ad that included a headline from The Guardian that read, “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans,” was changed to add “Harris Defends Repo Freedom.” The Harris campaign then added text that read, “VP Harris is a champion for reproductive rights and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.” 

An ad featuring a link to an NPR story with the headline, “Harris Will Lower Health Costs” now included the supporting text that says, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care.” 

The media outlets told Axios that they were unaware that their brands had been co-opted by the Harris campaign.

“While we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with The Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure that it is being used appropriately and with our permissions,” a spokesperson for The Guardian said. “We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.” 

It is unclear why the Harris campaign felt the need to tweak the news headlines, as there has been no shortage of favorable coverage of her since she replaced President Biden atop the Democratic ticket. 

The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Times.

Google doesn’t mind the ads, insisting they don’t violate its rules because they are prominently labeled as “sponsored” and “easily distinguishable from search results.”

In a statement, a Google spokesman said the company has “provided additional levels of transparency for election ads specifically.” 

“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,” the spokesperson said.

Facebook in 2017 banned advertisers from editing text from news links as part of what it called its “continuing efforts to stop the spread of misinformation and false news.”