A Top Facebook Ad Spender Points to a Conservative News Site That’s Not News
Political groups are filling the void left by local papers.
Hey, it's Josh. Outside of the presidential candidates themselves, one of the biggest buyers of Facebook Inc. ads in the waning days of the 2020 campaign has been America First Action, a super PAC whose chairwoman is former Trump administration official Linda McMahon. The group has spent over $640,000 on Facebook ads in the last week, and has also poured substantial resources into buying ads from Alphabet Inc.'s Google, with much of the money on both platforms dedicated to promoting articles on a website called American Herald.
The Herald's homepage is laid out like a typical news site, featuring dispatches from across the country, including "Trump Does Right by Floridian Families," "President Trump Is Fighting for North Carolina Families," and "President Trump is Fighting for Wisconsin Workers and Families." Unlike most journalism outlets, American Herald doesn’t say who writes its articles; each one is either attributed to “American Herald Staff” or has no byline at all. A search on LinkedIn for Herald writers didn’t turn up a single one.