Combatting lies with facts doesn’t work

Straight to the Point:

What we see: Our political and social echo chambers are driving fear and distrust, leading to the continued spread of misinformation that can have a real and significant impact on companies and enterprise value.

What it Means: Misinformation can drive the decision-making of everyday consumers and other stakeholders who can control a company’s license to operate, including regulators and policymakers

What to Do: Understand different ways to combat misinformation, its spread, and its impact beyond just getting into a fight over facts. The rational approach is almost never enough to combat what is ultimately a phenomenon driven by irrational thinking.

Read on for more data and insights into how to address misinformation and protect your company’s enterprise value.

The Elephant No Longer in the Room

By: Alec Jacobs

This might be obvious to anyone who’s ever cracked open a laptop or scrolled through a social media feed at any point in the last decade: there’s a huge amount of information out there, and a lot of it is flat out untrue.

It’s now at the point where “truth” itself can seem subjective. When people talk about “doing their own research,” they’re usually talking about a Google search and cherry-picking info to make what they want to be true.

That’s not good for society — and that’s not good for business, either. Misinformation not only erodes public trust but also poses a direct threat to corporate reputation and, by extension, enterprise value.

What We See:

We’ve been in the reputation business for a long time — and let’s just say, misinformation isn’t a new phenomenon.

Misinformation has been a force in politics from the jump as another election cycle looms, politicians are once again playing fast-and-loose with facts. A recent Axios/Harris poll reveals a sobering truth: America’s primary concern is politicians leveraging misinformation to manipulate their base.

The same poll shows that 41% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats believe they’re not susceptible to misinformation. And as you may have guessed, the widespread belief in personal immunity to misinformation is, ironically, one of the factors that makes it so pervasive and dangerous.

Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Prize winner and leading scholar on belief formation) posited in his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” that these belief systems we hold onto are created largely instantaneously, irrationally, and stubbornly, rather than slowly, deliberately, thoughtfully and openly.

We’re standing our ground in our echo chambers of belief, harder than ever, which goes far beyond impacting just the election.

Spoiler alert: we’re all susceptible to misinformation — from your average Joe to the policymaker, regulator or customer.

What It Means:

This is more than just a political problem or a social media headache. It’s a serious threat to business. No company is immune. Whether you’re a global brand or local business, misinformation can seep into any space and leave lasting damage. It often starts small, but before you know it, it erodes trust and damages credibility. By the time it’s addressed, it may have taken a toll on reputation and even the bottom line.

So … to demonstrate the impact misinformation can have on a company, we created a fake social media campaign targeting an informed segment of the U.S. public. We made up an ingredient in toothpaste, claimed it was harmful, and even made it look like it was coming from a law firm soliciting plaintiffs for an upcoming lawsuit.

A whopping 42% found it believable, and 62% said they would be concerned if they used this (not real) product.

That’s nearly HALF of potential customers who were ready to drop this product, and potentially the company that makes this product over a complete fabrication. We’re talking long-term damage to market value, stakeholder trust, and those delicate regulatory relationships you work so hard to build and maintain.

Where else can you anticipate misinformation leaving its mark?

Policymakers publicly calling out or refusing to partner or engage with a company
Business partners backing out of joint initiatives
Regulators with strongly held beliefs not easily swayed by new data or information

While social media companies have made significant strides in addressing many challenges with the spread of misinformation most harmful to people’s health, for example, they can’t be expected to mitigate every issue. Their focus is rightly on the most extreme cases, and it’s unrealistic to expect them to wade into the more nuanced or less-visible problems.

It’s these less apparent, but equally harmful, instances of misinformation that demand our attention and strategic response.

What To Do About It:

Facts alone are insufficient to combat misinformation, yet many companies rely solely on this approach. Start with these practices:

Understand and leverage skepticism. In today’s climate of widespread skepticism, a more effective strategy is to encourage critical thinking. Here are a few that we recommend:

Encourage source evaluation: Guide key influencers, customers, and partners through the process of assessing the credibility and motivations behind information sources. Provide tools and techniques for verifying claims and identifying potential biases.
Promote media literacy: Offer resources and workshops to help influencers distinguish between credible information and manipulative content. Focus on developing critical thinking skills that can be applied across various media platforms. Collaborate with external media literacy experts to lead these sessions.
Foster open dialogue: Create platforms for transparent discussions between employees, customers, policymakers, and external partners about concerns and misconceptions, allowing for the organic dispelling of false beliefs. Encourage respectful debate and the sharing of diverse perspectives. Facilitate these dialogues through internal communications teams or by bringing in external mediators.
Leverage third-party validators: Have your communications or public affairs team collaborate with trusted industry experts, academic institutions, or independent researchers to corroborate your claims and provide unbiased perspectives. This can significantly enhance your credibility.

Prioritize significant issues. Reserve your resources for matters that directly impact your financial performance or reputation. When assessing the importance of an issue, your leadership and communications team should consider which key stakeholders are affected, whether these audiences are crucial to your business, and if their actions or your response could lead to a boycott or negative media attention that affects your revenue.

Learn from criticism and implement meaningful improvements.Not everything you hear about your company or product is misinformation. It’s important to distinguish between baseless claims and legitimate concerns. When the criticism is valid, it’s an opportunity to improve, not dismiss. Addressing legitimate feedback with meaningful changes shows accountability and a commitment to continuous improvement. This not only strengthens your reputation but also builds trust with customers, investors, and external partners, showing that your organization is responsive and focused on excellence, rather than simply writing off every challenge as misinformation.

It’s easy to feel like you can’t make a difference when the challenge of misinformation seems overwhelming. But with careful planning and a thoughtful strategy, there’s actually a lot you can do. By staying informed, deliberate, and proactive, you can protect your reputation and mitigate the impact of misinformation.