Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign has run Facebook ads that promote news stories about the candidate written by The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Des Moines Register and other top publishers, a tactic that could make the news organizations look like political boosters on the social network and misrepresent their campaign coverage.
Warren recently ran multiple ad campaigns that promote news coverage of her candidacy on Facebook. One ad splashes The New York Times logo and links to an article on the publisher’s site with the headline: “Elizabeth Warren stands out at New Hampshire Democratic Party convention.” Another ad links to a New York Times Magazine feature about her candidacy with the headline: “Elizabeth Warren is completely serious.” Similar Facebook ads point people to coverage in BuzzFeed: “Warren talks about redlining and home ownership for black families.”
Warren's ad altered the headline of the BuzzFeed article, however, by omitting the words that the news site used. BuzzFeed's original headline, seen in the link, says "In South Carolina, Elizabeth Warren says she's spent her life figuring out why things are harder for black Americans." Warren's Facebook ad only mentioned BuzzFeed's secondary headline regarding redlining and black homeownership.
The appearance of news stories in campaign ads on Facebook could put news publishers in an uncomfortable position, says Steven Passwaiter, VP and general manager of Kantar/CMAG, a media data firm that analyzes campaign spending. The question is: “Is she leading somebody to think this is some quasi-endorsement when it isn’t,” Passwaiter says in a phone interview.
BuzzFeed did not return a request for comment, and The New York Times declined to comment for this story.
Politicians and advocacy organizations post news articles to social media all the time. President Donald Trump frequently tweets news. Also, candidates’ TV commercials often include clips of newspaper headlines and quotes.
“We have far more options today than just tearing the headline from a print story and using it in a TV ad,” says Lauren Amaio, director of digital communications at Global Strategy Group, a political consulting firm. “There is so much news that lives online, so it lends itself nicely to content for ad campaigns. I don’t think we will see that changing anytime soon.”