FB resorts to old smear tactics against TikTok

Eleven years ago, Facebook was caught red-handed after it hired a prominent public relations firm to try to plant stories harshly criticizing Google’s privacy practices in leading news outlets.

In 2018, it hired the PR firm Definers to do opposition research on the company’s critics, including billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The company’s longtime head of communications, Elliot Schrage, took the blame for approving the hiring of Definers and similar firms and left Facebook. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is using similar tactics to go after another rival TikTok. Meta, the Post reported, hired a Republican consulting firm called Targeted Victory to orchestrate a nationwide campaign against TikTok.

Targeted Victory, according to the Post, contracted with dozens of public relations firms across the U.S. to help sway public opinion against TikTok by planting local news stories and helping place op-eds targeting TikTok around the country, the story says. Meta confirmed that it has hired Targeted Victory. We believe all platforms, including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success,’ spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement. Zac Moffatt, the CEO of Targeted Victory, said the company manages bipartisan teams on behalf of our clients. It is public knowledge we have worked with Meta for several years and we are proud of the work we have done, he said in a statement.

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