Former US Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the First State Democratic Dinner in Dover, Delaware, on March 16, 2019.
Even worse for the Democratic front-runner: A realistic-looking parody site featuring images of Biden touching women and children appears to be doing quite well on Google and other major search engines, particularly for the search "Joe Biden website."
Users are reporting that the former vice president's official 2020 campaign page is nowhere to be found on the first page of results for the search term "Joe Biden."
Joe Biden's presidential campaign is already sunk — at least on Google.
"Joe Biden has a good feel for the American people and knows exactly what they really want deep down," reads JoeBiden.info, the parody site. "He's happy to open up and reveal himself to voters and will give a pounding to anybody who gets in his way!"
Read more: Joe Biden's campaign taps data analytics company backed by former Google chairman Eric Schmidt
Biden has been under scrutiny after a number of women made allegations that he touched them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable. After those allegations surfaced, Biden pledged to be more respectful.
Biden's campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
The internet snafu suggests the Biden campaign is having early difficulty with its digital operation. That could pose trouble for the 76-year-old as he competes in a field that has already proven to be savvy with new tools for online outreach and fundraising.
The problem has also emerged despite the Biden campaign's prolific spending on Google.
An online tracker maintained by the progressive digital advertising firm ACRONYM shows the Biden campaign has spent more than $360,000 on Google platforms, racking up more spending on the site than all the other candidates in the crowded field except Sen. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
While his official campaign page is absent, Google does prominently display an official Biden advertisement for Biden-related searches.
Meanwhile, JoeBiden.org links to a White House page titled "Trump Administration Accomplishments."
The person who created the JoeBiden.info parody site is not named, and a disclaimer claims it is not funded "by any candidate, committee, organization, or PAC."
In response to an inquiry from CNBC submitted through the parody website's contact form, the person behind it wrote that they identify as "closest to a libertarian." The person said they are an American citizen and that they have not been contacted by any candidate or organization about the website.
heathmon1856 on May 7th, 2019 at 06:57 UTC »
Honestly, the only reason he is a front runner is name recognition. People are too dumb to look atthe lesser know and far better candidates. If it weren’t for him being vp, he wouldn’t even be running
allofgodsmoney on May 7th, 2019 at 06:52 UTC »
Been saying it for months: I like Biden, but these videos make him completely unelectable.
There is no way that the average American voter will feel inspired to support him after we’re inundated with attack ads where he is smelling children’s hair for the next two years. It’s really a shame that he announced his candidacy because it’s going to seriously sully his legacy.
soberintoxicologist on May 7th, 2019 at 05:13 UTC »
The owner is a T_D user... he did a good job with it, even from a leftist perspective.
https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/bhahr3/i_own_joe_bidens_website/