In the home stretch of the 2024 election, left and center media is criticizing Republican political groups and Elon Musk for funding advertisements designed to falsely mimic support for Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Oct. 17, OpenSecrets (Center bias) reported on a deceptive advertising campaign driven by a nonprofit called Building America’s Future. The New York Times (Lean Left) reported two days earlier that Elon Musk and other donors had given over $100 million to the nonprofit, which passes its funds on to political action committees (PACs) working to elect Donald Trump as president. 

In one case, a PAC funded by Building America’s Future created a fake progressive platform, “Progress 2028,” which incorrectly states several Harris policies for which she has not declared support. In another, two different advertisements targeted Muslim and Jewish voters with conflicting messages that Harris is pro-Israel and anti-Israel, respectively.

While it's unclear whether the actions described in this piece are legal, they are counterproductive to democratic conversations and important for voters to know about as they make their decisions.

Progress 2028

According to OpenSecrets, one PAC funded by Building America’s Future ran advertisements and text messaging campaigns directing web users to a website called Progress 2028. 

The site is designed to appear supportive of Harris’ candidacy for president, but promotes misinformation about her policy positions, attributing to her a number of progressive goals she has not endorsed or explicitly does not support. OpenSecrets found that a Republican political firm apparently registered “Progress 2028” as a fictitious name for legal purposes.

Here are a few example statements from the website:

• “Kamala will prioritize a nationwide buy-back program to get guns off the streets and ensure fairness to all participants.”
  • In her 2020 primary campaign, Harris said, “We have to work out the details -- there are a lot of details -- but I do” support a buyback program for assault weapons. However, she has not endorsed the policy in the 2024 cycle.
• “She’s committed to banning fracking, phasing out internal combustion engines, and rolling out the most progressive Green New Deal yet.” 
  • On October 2, Harris told the Pittsburgh affiliate of CBS News (Lean Left) she wouldn’t ban fracking for natural gas.
  • In an email to Axios (Lean Left) from September, the Harris campaign said she “does not support an electric vehicle mandate.”
• “Kamala will push for inclusive healthcare policies that remove barriers for undocumented immigrants, allowing them access to Medicaid and other essential resources.”
  • On October 6, Fox News (Right) asked Harris’ running mate Gov. Tim Walz about a similar law passed in his home state of Minnesota, to which he replied, “That’s not [Harris’] position.”

The OpenSecrets story was picked up by outlets including Newsweek (Center), TruthOut (Lean Left), and The Nation (Left). As of this writing, AllSides could not find coverage from the right.

Harris is Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestine?

According to Google’s Ads Transparency Center, another PAC receiving money from Building America’s Future ran two different ads in two different swing states delivering opposite messages about Harris’ stance on the Israel-Hamas war:

• One praises Harris as a “pro-Israel president” and appears to support her candidacy. AllSides identified one record for the ad stating it ran between September 28 and October 10 in the metro area of Detroit, Michigan, which Axios reported includes 91% of the Arabic speakers in Michigan. The ad likely ran at other times as well.
• Another accuses Harris of “pandering to Palestine,” presenting as a straightforward attack ad. Records indicate the ad ran from October 14 to 21 in Pennsylvania, which NBC News (Lean Left) reported has the largest Jewish population of the 2024 swing states.

HuffPost (Left) reported on the pro-Israel ad in Michigan in early September, then followed up this past Tuesday with an article on the anti-Israel ad in Pennsylvania. Outlets including The Hill (Center), New Republic (Left), and Jewish Insider (Center) picked up the second story. AllSides could not find coverage of the second story from the right, although ZeroHedge (Lean Right) covered the first story in September.

Political Groups Shouldn’t Misrepresent Opponents with Falsehoods

It is wrong for political organizations to intentionally misrepresent a political opponent’s positions. While Democrats have arguably been unfair in tying Trump to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — which he has disavowed — fabricating a similar Democratic initiative that doesn’t exist is a step beyond that. It amounts to deceitful behavior that goes beyond honestly-presented criticism, and voters deserve to know about it.

In a world of endless streams of information, voters deserve to know where political information is coming from so they can understand the possible intentions of whoever shared it. It’s fair to assume that Building America’s Future, which is dedicated to electing Trump, designed arguments in favor of Harris not to help her candidacy, but to tie her to unpopular positions. Moreover, those positions are not her true positions.

This type of behavior is not exclusive to the right — as AllSides reported earlier this year, the Harris campaign ran Google ads that misrepresented news articles, suggesting that outlets were supporting her policy proposals. And back in the 2022 Republican primaries, the Democratic party ran ads which praised pro-Trump candidates, presumably in the hopes of facing easier opponents in the general election. At AllSides, we’re prepared to call out this behavior no matter who is responsible.

Our democracy (or democratic republic, if you prefer) depends on open and honest public conversations. Voters need to accurately understand what politicians might do in office in order to hold them accountable. The actions described in this piece are counterproductive to these conversations. Thankfully, AllSides is here to give our readers the fullest picture possible and allow them to make informed decisions at the ballot box and in their daily lives.

Evan Wagner (Lean Left bias) is a News Editor and Product Manager at AllSides.

This article was reviewed by Olivia Geno, News and Bias Assistant (Lean Right), and Henry A. Brechter, Editor-in-Chief (Center).

Editor's Note: A previous version of this blog said Musk donated $100 million to the PAC. That money has come from multiple donors, including Musk.