Disinformation and “deepfakes” pose growing threats to the private sector. Already, disinformation has been weaponized to harm brands, move markets, and undermine trust in companies and industries. This analysis (1) reviews the business and legal risks that could arise when disinformation targets businesses, markets, and corporate leaders; (2) addresses potential causes of action that could be brought by victims of disinformation against the individual creators or propagators of malicious content, whether under long-established state and federal laws or under new laws enacted within the past year that specifically address deepfakes. And (3) reviews some best practices businesses can undertake today to prepare for these new exposures. While businesses are not defenseless in this new and different information environment, protecting entities and individuals will require forward thinking, preparation, and diligence.
