Facebook hired company to spread negative stories about TikTok, report says

The firm Targeted Victory reportedly told its employees to ‘get the message out that while Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat’

Facebook reportedly hired a consulting firm to spread negative stories about its competitor, TikTok (Getty Images)

Facebook has been paying a right-wing consulting firm to discredit TikTok, a new report says.

According to The Washington Post, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, hired a firm called Targeted Victory to get negative articles and letters about the Chinese app published in major newspapers.

According to company emails obtained by the Post, Targeted Victory told its employees to “get the message out that while Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat especially as a foreign owned app that is #1 in sharing data that young teens are using.”

TikTok, owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, has emerged as a fierce competitor to Facebook. Last year, TikTok surpassed Facebook and even Google as the world’s most visited website, and the app itself has sometimes garnered more downloads than Facebook or Instagram (also owned by Meta). Meanwhile, Facebook has been haemorrhaging users.

So it’s perhaps no wonder that Meta may be taking extreme measures to fight back – but this latest tactic is more typical in politics than in tech. Targeted Victory began as an adviser to Republican candidates, and still receives hundreds of millions of dollars from GOP campaigns. Its CEO, Zac Moffatt, was the digital director for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012.

Now, according to emails the Post dug up, the firm is working for Facebook. The report paints a picture of a dogged campaign to hurt TikTok’s image in the news and, wherever possible, distract from Facebook’s own problems.

“Bonus point if we can fit this into a broader message that the current bills/proposals aren’t where [state attorneys general] or members of Congress should be focused,” one Targeted Victory employee wrote to other operatives.

“Any local examples of bad TikTok trends/stories in your markets?” another asked. “Dream would be to get stories with headlines like ‘From dances to danger: how TikTok has become the most harmful social media space for kids.’”

According to the Post, the firm even managed to start a rumour that a “Slap a Teacher” challenge had emerged on TikTok, prompting alarmed warnings from schools, police, and local news outlets. But according to a report by Insider, the challenge never existed, and the rumours about it began on Facebook.

In an email to The Independent, Targeted Victory’s CEO defended his company.

“Targeted Victory’s corporate practice manages bipartisan teams on behalf of our clients,” Mr Moffatt said. “It is public knowledge we have worked with Meta for several years and we are proud of the work we have done.”

The CEO also denounced the Post’s report in a Twitter thread, saying Targeted Victory’s teams are bipartisan, the rumours about TikTok came from external news sources, and the firm was open about Meta’s involvement in the letters it sent to newspaper editors.

“Today’s Washington Post story not only mischaracterizes the work we do, but key points are simply false,” Mr Moffatt wrote. “We’re proud of the work we’ve done to highlight the dangers of TikTok.”

A spokesperson for Meta also defended the campaign.

“We believe all platforms, including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success,” Meta representative Andy Stone told the Post.