A left-wing network of websites often criticized for peddling “fake news” is ramping up in Nevada to boost Democrats ahead of the November elections, records show.
The Nevadan, a website pushing Democratic talking points, is “spending big on misleading digital ads disguised as news stories,” the Washington Free Beacon reported. The website, like others masquerading as grassroots, is owned by Courier Newsroom, which has received $20 million since 2021 from billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and was founded by Democratic operative Tara McGowan.
“Anyone reading this fake news should know they are being deceived,” Alec Sears, a Republican strategist who works in the digital advertising space, told the Washington Examiner.
News of Courier Newsroom’s operations in Nevada comes after reports on how McGowan, the publisher of Courier Newsroom, has visited the White House almost 20 times since 2022. Courier Newsroom is owned by Good Information Inc., which McGowan also leads, and counts investors such as Vero Media Investments, Incite Labs Inc., Technology for Democracy, and the Kenneth & Jennifer Duda Living Trust, according to Good Information Inc. Websites linked to Courier Newsroom, according to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets watchdog group, “are actually part of a coordinated effort with deep ties to Democratic political operatives.”
The Nevadan is running deceptive Facebook advertisements slamming Republicans and boosting both Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks the White House and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), the Washington Free Beacon reported. For example, in June, the Nevadan ran ads on Facebook falsely claiming that “mandatory military service could soon be the norm for U.S. teenagers” under a second Trump term, the outlet reported.
However, on June 11, before the ads ran on Facebook, former President Donald Trump had already poured cold water on that proposal in a social media post.
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Courier Newsroom was once dubbed a “clandestine political operation” that has “deceived” voters by NewsGuard, a media watchdog group. In a leaked 2019 memo, Courier founder McGowan said the network aimed to “reach, persuade, and mobilize” Democrats.
Courier, which did not return a request for comment, has shelled out millions of dollars on Facebook ads since 2020. It has done so despite not being a political action committee, which would mean Courier would likely have to disclose its sprawling activities on financial disclosures. In 2022, the Federal Election Commission held that Courier was a news organization, documents show.