Tennessee Republican Party revealed as group behind mysterious Google ads targeting Phil Bredesen

Joey Garrison | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Tennessee elections: TN GOP paid for mysterious Google ads Tennessee Republican Party revealed as group behind mysterious Google ads targeting Phil Bredesen

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct information provided by Google about who paid for two of the Google ads.

Multiple ads on Google that had gone unchecked by the company, allowing the advertising to skirt rules to anonymously target Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, are no longer a mystery.

Newly attached disclaimers reveal the Tennessee Republican Party as the group that paid for three of the four previously undisclosed ads that have surfaced in the Tennessee U.S. Senate race, Google says.

Two of the ads, which appear during Google searches of Bredesen's name, link to Tennessean articles but alter the headlines and URLs in the search results in a way that takes aim at the former Tennessee governor.

The ads previously lacked documentation.

An independent Google search verifies the state party's payment of one of the ads.

Google now says it has added disclosures to all four ads at issue after The Tennessean last weekend reported how the ads avoided the company's political advertising disclosure policy.

Information about who paid for the ads will be viewable online at Google's political ad library next week, the company says.

Google disclosures: In Tennessee Senate race, anonymous Google ads skirt rules to alter headlines

Tennessee GOP also behind pro-Bredesen ad

The Tennessean exposed a flaw in how Google differentiates between political ads and other types of advertising.

Three of the ads now say they were paid for by the Tennessee Republican Party's federal election account, according to Google.

A disclaimer has also been added to a fourth Google ad, which is headlined "Phil Bredesen | Hand-Picked By Chuck Schumer." It's unclear who paid for that ad until the Google ad library is updated.

Bredesen is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn in a closely contested race to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, in the Nov. 6 general election.

In addition to ads that target Bredesen negatively, the company confirmed it placed a disclaimer on a Google ad that has a pro-Bredesen message about Bredesen's rural broadband policy.

The pro-Bredesen ad surfaced during The Tennessean's reporting on the Google ads in the race.

Curiously, the positive Bredesen ad was also paid for by the Tennessee Republican Party, a disclosure now shows.

Chamber support: U.S Chamber of Commerce endorses Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee U.S. Senate race

Google won't explain why ads were missed

Whether to add a disclaimer on advertising is a decision for Google — not the entity that is funding the advertising.

The new disclaimers come as digital advertising on Google has become a staple in a new frontier of political campaigning, prompting the company to take new steps for better transparency.

This week, the company has faced ridicule from President Donald Trump, who has accused Google of manipulating searches to display negative stories about him.

According to Google, the ads in Tennessee's Senate race — after further review — are covered by the company's new policy for political ads adopted on May 31 that requires a "paid for by" disclosure.

"All ads that are covered by our political ads policy should have a disclosure label," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "If an ad without a disclosure is flagged, we review it and label it."

Google did not say why the ads weren't flagged on the front-end as political, when asked for an explanation, saying the company does not go into details about its enforcement procedures.

It appears, however, that Google did not identify the political nature of the ads because the ads linked to news websites, in this case The Tennessean, and not campaign material.

How the Google ads stood out

The Tennessee Republican Party Google ad that was confirmed independently shows the following headline when Bredesen's name is put through a Google search, "Trump Voters Idiots According | To Top Bredesen Spokesman."

Nothing looks unusual at first.

But that's not the actual headline of the article — nor was the story about a Bredesen spokesman.

It links to a Tennessean story headlined, "Tennessee Democratic operative under fire for past explicit tweets about Trump, supporters."

The URL visible in the search results is altered as well from The Tennessean's version to say, www.tennessean.com/BredesenInsults/Trumpvoters.

The story that's linked involves Mark Brown, a communications aide for the Tennessee Democratic Party, who Republicans have blasted over explicit tweets he made in 2016 and 2017 about Trump.

Another Google ad promotes a Tennessean story about Blackburn's U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsement. That ad now says it was paid for by the Tennessee Republican Party as well, according to Google.

Related: Tennessee Democratic operative under fire for past explicit tweets about Trump, supporters

State GOP accuses Google of being biased

The altered headline and URL both remain despite the disclaimer that the ad now contains.

Gillum Ferguson, spokesman for the Tennessee Republican Party, led by chairman Scott Golden, had neither confirmed nor denied that the party was responsible for the ads during The Tennessean's prior reporting. He said the party's policy is to not discuss its digital strategy.

He stuck to that position when asked why the party chose not to disclose they had purchased the ads when The Tennessean first asked.

But in a statement, he criticized Google, saying the Tennessee Republican Party "has complied with all of Google's rules and policies regarding political advertising."

"Now they've selectively moved the goalposts on Republicans, without any public change to their policy, and without notifying the TNGOP of any change," he said. "This clearly further exposes the company's bias against organizations that espouse conservative values with which Silicon Valley disagrees."

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The Bredesen campaign, through a spokeswoman, slammed the Tennessee Republican Party's ad purchases.

"It may not be the Washington way, but the truth still matters in Tennessee," Bredesen communications director Laura Zapata said, adding that "now that Congressman Blackburn's dishonest backers have been unmasked, voters will be reminded once again why the swamp reeks."

Google says there's no policy change, just enforcement

The decision to now add the "paid for" disclosures on the Tennessee Senate-related ads does not involve a policy change, according to Google, but instead is the standard enforcement of the newly adopted rules.

Google describes election ads as "those that feature a federal candidate or current elected federal officeholder in the United States."

More: Phil Bredesen fires back at Koch attack with own ad, calls out Marsha Blackburn

But there's a disclaimer that seems to make some exceptions.

On its transparency website, Google says, "This policy doesn’t apply to ads for products or services, including promotional political merchandise like T-shirts or mugs, or news coverage of federal election campaigns, candidates, or current elected federal officeholders."

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.