June 5, 2025
Truth on Fire, and Brands Are in the Line of It
We’re all in the truth business now.
At Somerset House, on a chilly evening in June, I joined a panel to unpack the uncomfortable realities of misinformation and disinformation, and what brands can do about it. The session was hosted by Fourth Day PR and brought together voices from media, tech, insight, and social. The conversation ranged from ghost influencers and bot-fuelled firestorms, to the terrifying pace of AI-generated content.
It was clear: this is no longer a fringe problem. Brands are being hit hard, from mainstream falsehoods to niche whisper campaigns. If you’re in comms, marketing, or corporate affairs, this isn’t someone else’s problem. It’s yours.
Here’s what we uncovered.
The Shape of the Threat
“Fake news travels six times faster than the truth.” — Katy Howell
Social media is the frontline. The speed is unforgiving. As I said on the panel, brands are often caught reacting too slowly, partly because traditional comms processes are built for press releases, not viral chaos.
Take one of our clients, a tech brand caught in a crisis, where the opposing side controlled the narrative. “We couldn’t say anything for months. And by the time we could, it felt trite,” I explained. “The misinformation was constant, relentless, and compounded by fatigue. Weekends were the worst when TV picked it up and the brand team was shattered.”
“Misinformation isn’t just born on platforms like X or TikTok. It starts in Facebook groups and WhatsApp. That’s what we call ‘dark social’.” — Katy Howell
Add to that the rise of ghost influencers, fake experts with fabricated credentials who flood the media to boost SEO or gain trust. Journalist Rob Waugh revealed how he uncovered one such figure, “Barbara Santini”:
“She billed herself as an Oxford-educated psychologist, but had no practice, no online profile. Just traces on a few cannabis vape review sites. She didn’t exist.”
And she wasn’t alone. Rob’s reporting exposed an entire industry of fake personas designed to game the system.
Who’s Behind It, and Why
“It’s not just trolls in basements anymore. It’s entrepreneurs. People profiting off rage.” — Antony Cousins
Disinformation isn’t just the tool of foreign states or fringe ideologues. As Ant explained, some of the worst offenders are monetising the spread of outrage.
He described how a beloved global entertainment brand became the target of a misinformation storm:
“The ninth most-engaged narrative about them online was that they were involved in child trafficking. Completely false. But it had volume — 200,000 mentions a day.”
That narrative began in dark corners of the web, but exploded through bot amplification and algorithmic virality. Even the brand’s own employees turned on them, not because they believed it, but because the brand hadn’t communicated internally.
Max Templer from Thinks added nuance:
“There’s a spectrum, from outright lies, to weird interpretations of facts, to satire. Not all misinformation is equal, and not all of it deserves a brand-level crisis response.”
But knowing the difference requires constant monitoring.
What Can Brands Actually Do?
“Have a social-specific crisis plan. Not a dusty binder with a phone tree — a plan that works in real time.” — Katy Howell
The panel laid out layered solutions. Here’s a synthesis:
1. Before the Storm: Prebunk, Prepare, Simulate
- Audit your likely vulnerabilities (e.g. ESG backlash, product safety myths, competitor smears)
- Publish owned content that pre-empts disinfo, get your values and facts out before a crisis
- Train your team with crisis simulations. “40% of brands we work with don’t even know the login passwords,” I shared. “Until you simulate, you don’t realise how broken your chain of command is.”
- Build thought leadership among your execs, so when they speak, they’re known and trusted
2. When the Fire Hits: Speed, Visibility, Human Voice
- Monitor aggressively using tools like Brandwatch, Meltwater, or Pulsar
- Don’t rely on Boolean search, “vectorisation” (AI-based contextual analysis) is now essential
- Activate dark sites, switch on pre-written holding statements, and show a face, not just a logo
- Keep internal teams looped in, misinformation thrives when your own staff are in the dark
3. After the Blast: Learn and Reinforce
- Audit what narratives took hold and how
- Rebuild trust through community dialogue, user-generated content, and transparency
- Update training, tech, and workflows based on the post-mortem
Education, Critical Thinking, and the Human Layer
The discussion turned toward solutions beyond corporate walls.
“We need to teach critical thinking. But not just in schools — across all generations.” — Max Templer
From inoculation games that train users to spot fakes, to myth-busting quizzes that reduce amplification by 10–15%, the behavioural science community is creating real interventions. But adoption is patchy.
And as the audience pointed out:
“We can’t just rely on social platforms to do the heavy lifting. Their moderation is inconsistent, and too much starts on dark social. If brands aren’t monitoring, they’re flying blind.”
We also agreed that education must extend to staff:
“Internal comms is often a mess. Your employees are your first line of defence, or your first risk.” — Katy Howell
Media in the Age of AI and Ghost Experts
The panel ended by tackling the media’s evolving role.
“The top 500 news publishers have seen a 28% drop in traffic — just from AI overviews in search results.” — Rob Waugh
As AI-driven search replaces traditional browsing, earned media’s reach is under threat. But Rob offered hope:
“Subscription-based media will favour quality. If you’re paying, you want trustworthy, in-depth content. That creates pressure to verify sources.”
Still, brands need both. As I summed up:
“Social and media are synergistic. Influencers spark stories that make headlines. News coverage fuels online debate. If you’re not thinking about both, you’re missing the bigger picture.”
Final Thought: Truth is a Team Sport
If there’s one thing I left Somerset House feeling, it’s that truth isn’t a static asset, it’s a collective action. Brands can’t win this battle alone. But we do have power.
We can prep, monitor, train, and act with transparency. We can lead with humans, not faceless logos. We can be faster, and smarter than the lies.
Because in the end, trust isn’t just built on facts. It’s built on people, purpose, and showing up when it matters most.