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

FILE - This Wednesday, April 26, 2017, file photo shows the Google mobile phone icon, in Philadelphia. Russian operatives spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads across Google products, including YouTube and Google search, according to reports. The Washington Post is reporting that the technology behemoth uncovered the Russian-backed disinformation campaign as it considers whether to testify before Congress in November 2017. Social media companies Facebook and Twitter have already agreed to testify. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) FILE - This Wednesday, April 26, 2017, file photo shows the Google mobile phone icon, in Philadelphia. Russian operatives spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads across Google products, including YouTube and Google search, according to reports. The Washington Post is reporting that the technology behemoth uncovered the Russian-backed disinformation campaign as it considers whether to testify before Congress in November 2017. Social media companies Facebook and Twitter have already agreed to testify. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

By The Tennessean August 31, 2018 1 min read

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.

Read more at our news partner’s website, tennessean.com.