in U.S. news outlets — as the social giant tried to deflect attention away from its own PR headaches.on Wednesday reported on Meta’s deal with Targeted Victory, a digital marketing agency that has worked on numerous Republican campaigns. The Post reported that the firm worked with “dozens” of PR firms to “undermine TikTok through a nationwide media and lobbying campaign.
Asked to comment on the Targeted Victory campaign, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement, “We believe all platforms, including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success.” According to one email cited by the Post, a director at Targeted Victory wrote that the firm needed 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.” According to the report, another Targeted Victory staff member wrote, “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.
A TikTok spokesperson said in response to the Post report, “We are deeply concerned that the stoking of local media reports on alleged trends that have not been found on the platform could cause real-world harm.”