A while ago there was a news item about a stripper in Charlottesville, who claimed she was sexually harassed by UVA Lacrosse players. The boys parents, many of whom were from McLean or Chevy Chase, went into high gear with a flood of op-eds, editorials, and news items that showed that the lacrosse players, not the girl, were the REAL victims. Disgusting. Oh, and the girl was Black.

I don’t think the actual in house PR staffer is furiously typing on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, discord, mumsnet, and dcurbanmom.

I do think that various celebrities, political groups, leaders , tabloid media etc hire PR firms or have in house PR groups that sub contract this out. There are dark PR firms that specialize in amplifying a particular message, disinformation, creating a buzz , destroying reputations of competitors through trollng, AI, and bots. One of the first caught was actually a UK firm involved in South Africa.