Facebook owner reportedly paid Republican firm to push message TikTok is 'the real threat'

Abstraction: Meta hired GOP firm to run covert anti-TikTok media campaign

Key points:

• Meta paid Targeted Victory (Republican strategy firm) to seed op-eds and letters-to-the-editor attacking TikTok as a foreign-owned danger to American children
• Internal emails stated goal: "TikTok is the real threat especially as a foreign owned app" and dreamed of headlines like "From dances to danger"
• Campaign promoted stories tying TikTok to the "devious lick" vandalism trend despite that trend originating on Facebook, per a Reply All podcast investigation
• Operatives pushed narratives to local media in Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Washington DC
• Campaign also aimed to deflect from Meta's own privacy and antitrust scrutiny by state AGs and Congress
• Meta spokesperson Andy Stone defended the campaign as pushing for scrutiny "consistent with their growing success"

Connections: Meta · Facebook · Tiktok · Disinformation · Social Media · Astroturfing

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/mar/30/facebook-owner-reportedly-paid-republican-firm-tiktok-real-threat