From Alphabet Inc’s Google to Netflix Inc, prominent US companies are battling Internet boycott calls over their perceived political leanings in a polarizing election season that has exposed them to what researchers call “brand disinformation.”
The online campaigns — which falsely claim that Netflix and Google are funding or favoring Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris, ahead of the November election — illustrate how brands are vulnerable to political falsehoods that can expose them to financial perils.
Those calling for a boycott include fake accounts on X, researchers said.
Photo: Reuters
The site is owned by Elon Musk, who has endorsed former US president Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and appears to exert an outsized influence on voters through the platform, which has become a hotbed of disinformation.
The recent boycott calls targeting Netflix, which also spread on TikTok and Instagram, were triggered by false claims of a US$7 million donation from the streaming service to Harris’ campaign, Agence France-Presse fact-checkers reported.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings contributed to Harris’ campaign, but the company said it was a “personal donation.”
Still, calls to “cancel Netflix” flooded social media sites, with many users falsely claiming the company was indirectly funding the Harris campaign. Some shared screenshots of their canceled subscriptions.
Nearly one-quarter of the boycott calls on X were traced to fake profiles, which have consistently expressed support for Trump through the past year, the disinformation security company Cyabra said.
“Brand disinformation campaigns in today’s polarized climate have far-reaching impacts beyond just corporate reputation,” Cyabra CEO Dan Brahmy said.
“The Netflix case demonstrates how rapidly these campaigns spread, potentially reaching hundreds of millions” and shows how “disinformation can manipulate public opinion and consumer behavior,” he said.
As the hotly contested election nears, “brands must be vigilant,” Brahmy said.
Similar boycott calls targeted Google after unfounded claims that it censors election-related content and manipulates search engine results in favor of Harris.
Cyabra identified hundreds of fake profiles on X — many with a recent history of pro-Trump content — that have called for a boycott of the tech giant while promoting another search engine.
Musk, who has repeatedly criticized Google, played a “significant role in amplifying negative content” against the company, Cyabra said in a report.
“Wow, Google has a search ban on President Donald Trump! Election interference?” Musk wrote in an evidence-free post late last month.
Google did not respond when asked about the allegations or the effect of the boycott calls.
Earlier this month, a survey by the business ratings and online reviews platform Sitejabber showed that 30 percent of respondents had boycotted a brand over political reasons in the past 12 months, while 41 percent said they prefer that companies keep their “political positions private.”
“Brands face a delicate balancing act this election year,” Sitejabber CEO Michael Lai said. “While staying apolitical may seem safe, it’s important for businesses to understand that even neutrality can be interpreted as a position.”
A survey by market research firm Certus Insights showed that people were divided over whether corporations should engage in partisan politics, with more than half the respondents saying companies should refrain from doing so.
Other surveys suggest that people consider it the brand’s fault if its advertising appears next to polarizing, false or defamatory content.
Such concerns have prompted many advertisers to abandon X, which has scaled back content moderation and restored once-banned accounts known to peddle disinformation or hate following Musk’s 2022 acquisition of the platform.
Some also left in light of Musk’s own controversial musings on the site.
Earlier this month, X sued an advertising group and several large corporations, accusing them of causing billions of dollars of losses by “illegally” boycotting his site.
“Disinformation creates chaos and distrust. Brands normally benefit from a well-informed society,” said Claire Atkin, cofounder and chief executive of the anti-disinformation watchdog Check My Ads.
“On the Internet, advertisers have let tech companies take their ads away from the news and straight into the arms of bad actors. Now, unfortunately, we are all experiencing the consequences,” she said.
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