Undoubtedly, both sides deploy all the tricks and advantages that they can to influence voters ahead of the election, it just seems that the left is a little more into the practice.

That was evidenced when it was revealed that a fake "news" organization had been using specific audience data to target millions of voters in swing states by running ads attacking former President Donald Trump and pushing voters to back Vice President Kamala Harris, the Washington Free Beacon reported. 

Campaigns and Super PACs spend mountains of cash on social media ad blitzes targeted at certain voters, but "Courier Newsroom," the fake "news" outlet behind a $9 million ad blitz favoring Harris, is neither of those.

The outlet wrote, "The spots have reached scores of swing state voters using a Facebook feature that allows advertisers to submit their own data—for political groups, that is, data they've compiled on voters—to reach a precise audience."

What's going on?

The Free Beacon reported that the person behind the operation is liberal operative Tara McGowan, describing Courier Newsroom as an "organization that pushes Democratic talking points under the guise of local 'news' outlets."

Courier Newsroom reportedly spent some $9 million in Facebook ads since early August, the report added.

The fake news organization reaps certain benefits in running Facebook ads as it claims its a nonpartisan news entity, when in reality it was reportedly originally funded in part by billionaire liberal George Soros.

The Free Beacon noted:

But when Courier runs a Facebook ad, it does so through one of its 11 "local news" outlets. The Facebook pages for those outlets are labeled "Media/news company," rather than "Political Organization." They're also designed to appear nonpartisan.

Because Courier Newsroom presents itself as a nonpartisan news network, it bypasses FEC's donor disclosure laws, allowing it much greater freedom in running ads than registered PACs or political organizations.

The trickery is so dirty that it even drew criticism from CNN's Jake Tapper and Brian Stelter.

Violation of terms?

"This is a big problem, I'm glad you brought this up, because this is a phenomenon known as 'pink slime' sites," Stelter said at the time. "They look like news, they might taste or smell like news, but they are not."

Some argued that because it's unknown how Courier Newsroom obtains its audience data and uses it for ad targeting that it could be a violation of Facebook's advertising policies.

Since 2020, we've been sounding the alarm on how liberal dark money groups, like Courier Newsroom, are sinking millions into an operation designed to intentionally mislead voters — by making left-wing political ads appear like objective news: pic.twitter.com/hCs0tWLamH

— Americans for Public Trust (@apublictrust) November 4, 2024

"They're targeting voters under the guise of a news organization while shielding their donors' identities," one Republican operative said of the shady organization.