Building a strong brand requires diligent research, relevant and positive positioning and consistent credibility. Today that task is harder than ever. Our society is overwhelmed with negativity and distrust. Vicious personal attacks in every sector (e.g. government, entertainment, media, etc.) are rampart, exacerbating polarization. One of the most common accusatory words we hear these days by politicians is “weaponization”. The biggest contributor to this growing divisiveness is the pervasive use of misinformation, especially on social media.
Recently two events affirm the expectation of even more misinformation that will further polarize our society with vitriol and baseless attacks on personal brands: (1) Mark Zuckerberg killing the fact-checking service at his Meta social media platforms, and (2) news about the growing practice of PR professionals creating disinformation to denigrate the reputation of celebrities.
Zuckerber’s About Face
After the January 6 insurrection in 2021, Zuckerberg kicked Trump off Facebook and Instagram. However, after having dinner with Trump over last Thanksgiving, he decided to make sweeping changes to align himself more with Trump’s conservative movement:
- Fact-Checking – operations and misinformation researchers will be eliminated, which will be a devastating blow to the truth. Zuckerberg argues this service was a form of censorship, so instead falsehoods will now be policed by users (good luck with this!). Basically this also eliminates restrictions on how people can talk about contentious social issues such as immigration, gender and sexuality.
- Ending DEI Initiatives – Zuckerberg also eliminated Meta’s chief diversity officer role, stopped all work on diversity, equity and inclusion, and no longer prioritizes minority-owned businesses when hiring vendors – policies popular among its employees.
- Loosening Rules On Hate Speech – people can now post statements saying how they hated people of certain races, religions and social orientations, even allowing users of its apps to suggest that L.G.B.T.Q. identities are rooted in mental illness..
The timing of this change of heart by Zuckerberg reflects his remaking Meta to get closer to the Trump administration and protect it from the threat of regulation, including its upcoming trial in April against the F.T.C, which charged that Meta acquired Instagram and What’sApp to maintain a social media monopoly. Zuckerberg will also have to contend with the Europe Union’s requirement for content moderation, where noncompliance can expose Meta to fines up to 6% of annual revenues.
Disinformation By PR Firms
While the risks of magnifying our divisions from more misinformation and conspiracy theories are truly scary, the practice of harming the brand reputation of celebrities also reveals the increasing dangers of fabricating and inserting falsehoods online. In December, the actress Blake Lively brought a legal complaint against Justin Baldoni, her co-star and director of a new movie, “It Ends With Us”, for sexual harassment and retaliation. In response, Baldoni hired a public relations firm to create a smear campaign with disinformation to damage Lively’s brand image. This may seem like an isolated, minor event compared to Zuckerberg’s seismic change, but it shows how misinformation in social media can even undermine personal branding initiatives and credible reputations in the entertainment world.
Unfortunately most people exclusively tune into social media programs that reinforce their rigid personal views on social and political issues, and hence don’t question the contentious falsehoods that are becoming increasingly omnipresent. If tech giants like Meta, Google or X don’t support guardrails for such dangerous misinformation, the future prospects for unity and civil, productive discourse will be more challenging than ever.
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