Matthew Ferraro and Jason Chipman authored an article on the Washington Post alerting readers to the dangers that “fake news” can pose to companies and investors when bad actors disseminate digital disinformation meant to harm corporate reputations and sometimes create opportunities for the wrongdoers to illegally profit.
Published in the Washington Post’s Sunday Outlook section, the article—“Fake news threatens our businesses, not just our politics”—notes that “what today is called ‘fake news’ is a timeworn tactic of using information as a weapon to achieve a larger objective.” Considering the growing problems associated with fake news, the authors said that “to preempt and eventually overcome these threats, a corporation needs communications and litigation strategies” and noted that companies should plan for these events and “conduct simulations like the ones they run for cybersecurity breaches.”Mr. Ferraro, a senior associate at WilmerHale, is a former intelligence officer and a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason Law School. Mr. Chipman, a partner at WilmerHale, is a former senior counsel to the deputy attorney general and also a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason Law School.
