
How Facebook’s P.R. Firm Brought Political Trickery to Tech - Quanttek
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/technology/definers-public-affairs-tim-miller.html
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sytelus
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.

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

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malshe
I also found this article confusing. The title says Facebook's PR firm but
they were hired by so many others and the article mostly talks about how
Qualcomm paid Definers to malign Apple.

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

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throwaway98121
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.

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

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choot
Isn't Definers owned by Sherly Sandberg?

