CEO Shreds Washington Post Reporting on His Firm’s Alleged Smear Campaign Against TikTok: ‘Manufactured Story’
TikTok via Twitter.
Zac Moffatt, the CEO of Targeted Victory, tore into the Washington Post on Wednesday over the newspaper’s reporting that his digital PR firm maligned TikTok on behalf their client Facebook.
“Facebook parent company Meta is paying one of the biggest Republican consulting firms in the country to orchestrate a nationwide campaign seeking to turn the public against TikTok,” opened the article published Wednesday by Taylor Lorenz and Drew Harwell.
The article cites previously unreported emails to make the case that “Meta and its partners will use opposition-research tactics on the Chinese-owned, multibillion-dollar rival that has become one of the most downloaded apps in the world.”
“Dream would be to get stories with headlines like ‘From dances to danger,'” one campaign director is quoted in the article as having said in an email.
Moffatt took to Twitter to air his grievances with the article.
“Today’s Washington Post story not only mischaracterizes the work we do, but key points are simply false. We tried to reach out to The Washington Post to further talk through them, but never got a response,” Moffatt, who once served as the Digitial Director for Mitt Romey for President, wrote on the social media platform.
We are a right-of-center firm, but the teams we manage bipartisan teams, including the ones mentioned in the article—also both authors are Democrats. Here is our full statement—omitted by The Post: 2/
— Zac Moffatt (@ZacMoffatt) March 30, 2022
He went on in a lengthy thread to “address” his “concerns” with the article. “We are a right-of-center firm, but the teams we manage [are] bipartisan teams, including the ones mentioned in the article—also both authors are Democrats,” Moffatt began, taking issue with how the Post characterized his firm.
He continued:
Here is our full statement—omitted by The Post: Targeted Victory’s corporate practice manages bipartisan teams on behalf of our clients. It is public knowledge we have worked with Meta for several years and we are proud of the work we have done.
Moffatt goes on to take issue with a section in the Post story about different tactics his firm reportedly used:
The campaign includes placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and pushing to draw political reporters and local politicians into helping take down its biggest competitor.
Moffatt responds by saying, “The story infers that the words of the letters to the editor were not the authors’ own, nor did they know of Meta’s involvement. That is false. They will confirm that. We had hoped to not have them included in this manufactured story out of respect for their personal privacy.”
The story infers that the words of the letters to the editor were not the authors’ own, nor did they know of Meta’s involvement. That is false. They will confirm that. We had hoped to not have them included in this manufactured story out of respect for their personal privacy. 4/
— Zac Moffatt (@ZacMoffatt) March 30, 2022
He goes on to use Washington Post headlines to debunk the article’s claim that “Targeted Victory worked to spread rumors of the ‘Slap a Teacher TikTok challenge’ in local news, touting a local news report on the alleged challenge in Hawaii. In reality, no such challenge existed on TikTok.”
“These viral stories about TikTok they claims are “rumors” were actually reported by their own newspaper, some from over 6 months ago. We emailed *their own* reporting!” He wrote, and then shared various Washington Post headlines reporting on the challenge, including one that read, “A TikTok trend inspired students to steal toilets. Now, school officials say they’re slapping teachers.”
— Zac Moffatt (@ZacMoffatt) March 30, 2022
Moffatt finished the thread by writing, “And finally, The Washington Post characterizes 2 letters to the editor as a “scorched earth campaign.” That is not just hyperbolic, but laughable. We’re proud of the work we’ve done to highlight the dangers of TikTok.”
Lorenz, one of the article’s authors, quickly responded to Moffatt on Twitter, writing, “I sent the last email in our exchange encouraging you to call me and provided you with my cell number, you’re still welcome to give me a ring anytime!”
I sent the last email in our exchange encouraging you to call me and provided you with my cell number, you’re still welcome to give me a ring anytime!
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) March 30, 2022
