Early in the lockdown, a video popped up in my WhatsApp showing protesting workers demanding to be allowed to return to their hometowns. It could have been one of hundreds such videos doing the rounds, except that workers were standing in front of a directional sign board of the company I represent. I immediately contacted my CEO and discovered that the workers were not ours. They just happened to be standing near our board, giving the media and others the idea that the protest was directed against us. The matter was nipped in the bud, but it taught me a lesson.

Fake news is part of the new reality that communication professionals must learn to deal with. It started impacting companies’ bottomlines, stocks, and market sentiment. Just three examples can tell you how damaging disinformation can be.

In the lead-up to the US elections 2016, Donald Trump supporters called for a boycott of Pepsi products over a quote its CEO never actually made. Immediately, Pepsi’s global sentiment got impacted and stock prices plummeted. In 2013, when Associated Press tweeted “Two explosions in the White House and Barack Obama injured,” over $130 billion in stock value was lost within minutes. Back home, companies such as Venky and Godrej Agrovet saw a sharp decline in chicken sales over rumours that chicken causes coronavirus.

The genesis

Is this a new phenomenon? Actually, no. Aeons before Goebbels, disinformation was mentioned in Mahabharata — Yudhishthir talking about the death of Ashwathama (elephant) — and in the Bible , Eve is tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit. If disinformation is that old, what has changed today? It has only been amplified. Technology has increased its speed and reach.

Bots work 24x7 to spread lies, cookies track people to show them fake content and trolls fan the flames. The question then is how do I handle this crisis? I found this two-step approach useful — detect and mitigate.

Detect the lie?

Fake news mostly spreads through morphed photos and videos, twisted facts, pseudo experts’ and media news manipulation. Start your journey by turning to Google Search. If you come across fake photos, they would have been either edited using software’s like Adobe Photoshop or real photos are presented as having been taken at another time or place.

In both instances Fotoforensics, Google, Yandex and TinEye reverse image search helps to detect the discrepancy. Look for images with the largest resolution and earliest date of publication, as that could be closest to the original.

October 2020 witnessed heavy rainfall across Hyderabad. A video showing a supposedly flooded Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) went viral. Later, it was found that the video was three years old and from the international airport of Mexico.

In 2018, several new videos surfaced on social media alleging that a well-known atta brand contained plastic. Later, the claim turned out to be false. In both cases, video was being fabricated by palming off old footage as new, maliciously editing parts of it or entirely creating new one.

To scrutinise these videos, take the help of tools like YouTube data viewer, InVID and various reverse search. Also, keep an eye for telltale marks like inaccurate gluing, shadows, distorted proportions, or strange movements.

How to protect brand reputation?

Once you spotted the fake news, it is time for combat. Sharpen your digital listening tools such as Meltwater and start gathering intelligence related to crisis.

The fact-checking websites such as Altnews, Boomlive, factchecker, among others, are useful to verify veracity of news in circulation. Once you have the facts in place, it is equally important to share your side of the story by engaging with journalists following the story. The leading newspapers and media houses have provisions for fact-checking and carrying evidence-based factual stories.

Do not forget your other old methods. Press release, letters to key stakeholders and internal emails from the CEO to employees can work wonders to contain the negative effects of the fake news. Also, publicise your side of the story through owned media including a microsite.

In select cases, there is also the legal route. You could file FIR and suit in the courts to restrain the circulation of such fake news on social media.

Whatever you choose to do, maintain close coordination with senior management, and the heads of the projects and/or product groups. It is vital that the organisation speaks in one voice.

Preventive and proactive measures are always better than attempting damage control. This requires having a ready-to-roll crisis plan to deal with disinformation. You will be well on your way to winning the war against the most insidious enemy of our times — fake news — if only you can stay calm and clip the tentacles of this virus in time.

The writer is Head – Corporate Brand and Communications, L&T

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