Viral Social Media Matters

Viral Social Media Matters

We help our clients endure unsettling legal, reputational, and financial tremors in the ever-shifting social media landscape. From defamatory social media campaigns alleging racial bias at prestigious private schools or retail chains, to baseless, anonymous online charges of unsanitary conditions or unfair labor practices at popular restaurants, Rotenberg Associates has put out social media fires and kept reputational and economic damage to a minimum so organizations can get back to doing what they do best.

Representative Viral Social Media Matters Experience

  • Major national religious movement faces viral social and mainstream media reporting of allegations of systemic sexual abuse across decades in its youth program, resulting in a comprehensive independent investigation of organization’s 70-year teen program, disclosure of a report on the investigation, and the organization’s response to related litigation
  • Local women-owned yoga studio faces significant reputational harm on social media due to false accusations of racism by former instructor being filed with industry certification body 
  • Prestigious private school faces demand for anti-racist agenda from community stakeholders following Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd killing and viral social media campaign
  • Longstanding retail chain faces viral social media campaign insinuating racial bias against black patrons and demanding boycott amidst Black Lives Matter national protests
  • Owners of popular restaurant group face viral social media campaign by disgruntled former employees falsely alleging unfair treatment of workers, violations of COVID safety protocols and insufficient support for Black Lives Matter
  • Prominent nursing home conglomerate faces false and defamatory front-page investigative news report and national and international social media attacks, concerning false allegations of human trafficking
  • Negative high profile national and local media concerning private school termination of a teacher accused of sexual assault and subsequent social media campaign by activists
  • Animal rights protest and social media campaign against global research and testing laboratory serving the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries

Case Study

Just as a popular restaurant group reopened its doors following both the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and local social unrest in response to the killing of George Floyd, a disgruntled former employee took to social media on numerous platforms to falsely allege unfair treatment of workers, violations of COVID-19 health protocols, and insufficient owner support of Black Lives Matter. The defamatory accusations quickly went viral and were further amplified by organized activists who advocated for a customer boycott, with the goal of “shutting down” the restaurant. Using various strategic tactics, Rotenberg Associates quickly contained the social media campaign, communicated truthful information to stakeholders, succeeded in having most of the defamatory posts removed or blocked, and kept the false accusations out of the mainstream print and broadcast media. Despite this harrowing experience, the restaurant group was able to continue its operations with no regulatory or legal impact and virtually no ongoing reputational harm.

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