How Facebook’s P.R. Firm Brought Political Trickery to Tech

TLDR;

While working for Qualcomm, Definers pushed the idea that Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, was a viable presidential candidate in 2020.

Definers employees distributed anti-Apple research to reporters and would not say who was paying for it. Definers distributed a 13-page memo titled “Apple Bowing to Chinese Cyber Regulators” that detailed how Apple’s activity in China contradicted its public stance on privacy elsewhere. It also planted dozens of negative articles about Apple on conservative news sites.

Google has more recently been targeted with negative stories tipped to reporters by a group called the Campaign for Accountability. The group was quietly funded by the database maker Oracle.

Juul, which has been accused of marketing its e-cigarettes to children, is working with Definers to improve its public image.

The E.P.A. ended its contract with Definers last year after it was revealed that a Definers lawyer was investigating agency employees critical of the Trump administration.

A proposal sent to a potential Definers client last year, under a section labeled “Digital Platform Echo Chamber.”: “Definers manages NTK Network, a news aggregation platform that targets Washington D.C. influencers. Through NTK we can directly re-publish favorable news from other outlets, and work with like-minded individuals to help create an echo chamber effect,”

“The iPhone 8 Might Be Slower Than the Competition. Here’s Why” read a headline on an April 2017 story. NTK’s answer? The iPhones don’t use Qualcomm chips.

Definers’s focus on Mr. Cook extended to a campaign it ran to promote the Apple chief as a 2020 presidential candidate. A slick website titled “Draft Tim Cook 2020” had digital links to Definers employees.

This is one of the best piece I have read on how these next gen PR firms are molding public opinions in their favor with such an ease using new tools. The media is becoming echo chamber for content that is simply press releases in disguise. This is taking pg’s famous Submarine essay to quite another level.

Interesting, didn't know Lyft and others also worked with Definers. Why is everyone so focused on Facebook? Did I miss something?

Political trickery? In tech? Surely you must be joking.

IMO the thing this all highlights to me is that while many employees at large tech companies may believe they’re changing the world for the better or helping advance progressive ideas, their companies are just as two faced, greedy, and dishonest as any other industry.

I’m especially upset with the narcissism. I thought very highly of Sheryl Sandberg. I even thought Zuckerberg was an immature kid who is now trying to do the right thing, despite the mistakes. These people are just as selfish and self centered as the next person. I want Sheryl and Mark to take more responsibility but havent seen it.

It seems more than a little disingenuous to claim that this is the first time that tech has ever had political trickery.

Isn't Definers owned by Sherly Sandberg?