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Misinformation during the UK general election

+ Google ranks AI spam above original content

Welcome to this week's edition of The Comms Dart.

In this week’s edition:

  • Misinformation during the UK general election

  • The Digest: PR shouldn’t abandon controversy, high-profile CEOs, M&A surge and multi-CEO challenges

  • Google Search: ranks AI spam above original content

  • Comms tool of the week: HARPA AI

If you want to dive deeper, links are provided.

MISINFORMATION

The recent UK general election highlighted the evolving influence of social media on political campaigns.

While deepfakes and AI were expected to play significant roles, traditional misinformation tactics proved more impactful. Here's a breakdown of the key findings and what you need to know.

Here’s what you should know

  • Misinformation, including a fake audio clip of Labour's Wes Streeting, spread widely.

  • Political activists used various tactics, beyond AI, to manipulate online conversations.

Viral misinformation

A fake audio clip of Labour politician Wes Streeting using abusive language spread rapidly just before the UK general election.

Despite being marked as "manipulated media," it amassed over a million views.

Manipulative tactics beyond AI

Political activists employed various methods, not limited to AI, to distort online conversations.

Fake and satirical clips targeting multiple politicians were prevalent.

Much of the election content came from "accidental election influencers," whose posts, boosted by social media algorithms, reached wide audiences without formal political ties.

Ongoing challenges for social media platforms

Platforms like TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Meta responded to misinformation during the election, but issues with online manipulation persist.

The election underscored ongoing problems with social media regulation and the need for clearer solutions to tackle misinformation and algorithm-driven content

The digest

Why PR shouldn’t abandon controversial industries: This podcast focuses on the role of PR in controversial industries, highlighting the ethical and moral dilemmas PR professionals face when choosing clients. It examines how effective PR can facilitate positive change and manage stakeholder relationships in sectors like fossil fuels and tobacco.

High-profile CEOs boost shareholder value: A new study by Golin reveals that CEOs with high public visibility significantly enhance their companies' performance, leading to increased shareholder value. The CEO Impact Index, which analyses the communication strategies of Fortune 500 executives, shows that the top 50 most visible CEOs achieve 80% higher average annual share price growth compared to their peers.

PR industry sees surge in mergers and acquisitions: M&A activity has surged with global deal values rising to $14.25 billion in 2024 driven by heightened private equity interest. Notable deals include Public Policy Holding Company's £30 million acquisition of Pagefield and Teneo's £65 million purchase of Tulchan, highlighting the sector's attractiveness due to predictable revenues.

The challenges of being a multi-CEO: A study from TU Dortmund University and HEC Lausanne reveals the significant challenges of holding multiple CEO roles. While some high-profile execs, like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey, manage this through strategic time management and strong support teams, the consensus is that such arrangements are unsustainable and place undue strain on the CEOs.

AI PLAGIARISM

AI-generated spam content is outranking original reporting in Google News. Despite Google's policy changes to combat this, the issue persists, baffling SEO experts.

Here’s what you should know

  • AI sites are copying articles from reputable sources like WIRED and TechCrunch, often ranking higher in search results.

  • Google's updates to reduce low-quality content have not fully worked, allowing spammy AI content to remain prominent.

  • SEO experts are frustrated by the ongoing issue, impacting web traffic and revealing a lack of transparency from Google.

Detecting AI-generated content

AI content often includes minor rephrasing and obvious AI-generated images, indicating Google's struggle to filter out low-quality material.

AI tools rephrase and republish content with minimal attribution, violating Google’s policies on scraping.

Google’s response

Google states it acts against policy-violating sites but offers limited specific responses to plagiarism reports, frustrating original content creators.

The prevalence of AI spam undermines incentives to produce high-quality content, reducing trust in search results.

As AI advances, balancing its use while maintaining content authenticity is crucial. AI should enhance, not replace, human creativity.

Tool of the week

HARPA AI

HARPA is an AI browser extension compatible with ChatGPT and Claude models, offering privacy-compliant, multi-functional features such as email management, YouTube summarization, and SEO optimization. It provides tools for automating web tasks, tracking page updates, and generating extensive articles, all while mimicking the user's writing style.

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