‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it’ – or at least it used to. These days, the standing of high-profile people can be damaged almost beyond repair in a matter of seconds. From the rise of AI deepfakes to the continued evolution of social media platforms, the rich and famous are increasingly under threat.
Are principals and boldface names sufficiently alive to the terrors that lurk in cyberspace and elsewhere? That’s one of the questions we put to around 20 members of our network of leading reputation managers and privacy lawyers, to gauge the ways in which the landscape is shifting and how clients are responding to these changes.
The threat that is proving most worrying for HNW clients, according to the reputation experts who spoke to members of the Spear’s Research Unit for this article, is the rise in misinformation and/or disinformation.
The dissemination of misleading content has become faster and more difficult to police. In some cases this problem has even been supercharged by generative AI, or exacerbated by failures on the part of the very platforms and sources that should act as safeguards.
[See also: Do you need reputation insurance?]
The threat of AI
The use of deepfakes targeting celebrities and high-profile figures has stepped up a gear in the past 12 months. From a controversial case that saw AI-generated sexualised images of Taylor Swift distributed across the internet (landing Elon Musk’s X in hot water and prompting action from the US Senate) to YouTube videos in which Nigella Lawson and Oprah Winfrey appeared to endorse an influencer’s self-help course, deepfakes have had major consequences for the reputations of influential figures.
But they pose other threats too. In January 2024, a finance worker at a multinational company was fooled into authorising a payment of HK$200 million (£20 million) by a deepfake video of her firm’s CFO that was deployed over a video conference call. In another case, scammers attempted to mislead a Ferrari employee by posing on WhatsApp as the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna. The scheme deployed AI technology to mimic Vigna’s voice but was foiled when the fast-thinking employee asked a question about a book that his CEO had recommended.
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‘AI is fast emerging to be a powerful tool that can be utilised against UHNWs,’ says Callum Galbraith, head of the media disputes team at law firm Hamlins. ‘The damage can be quickly done, but the process of correcting the position is less easy.’ Reputation managers and lawyers who historically battled newspapers and other ‘legacy media’ are now having to identify more elusive foes and navigate the internal politics and protocols of the social media giants in order to remove false and defamatory information.
Social media: A double-edge sword
Several reputation managers told Spear’s that social media is a doubled-edged sword. In many cases there is an imperative to use it to create and curate one’s personal brand.
Indeed, in some cases, people without significant public or online profiles can be more susceptible to reputational and security threats brought about by emerging technologies, says Gregory Monk, a senior associate at law firm Vardags. ‘In instances where there is an absence of an online presence, automated AI tools could fill in knowledge gaps and create a false image for the individual which could lead to the spread of misinformation and/or disinformation about them.’
[See also: What is a reputation manager?]
However, even seemingly innocuous details about one’s life or habits can create risk when revealed online. ‘Because of social media, UHNWs are increasingly vulnerable,’ says Gerard Cukier, partner at Keystone Law. ‘It presents even greater dangers through false allegations, false websites, false reporting and even blackmail.’
The majority of family office principals and successful entrepreneurs ‘understand the importance of their personal brand and how quickly that can be damaged’, says Taylor Wessing partner Niri Shan. But, he adds, a significant minority ‘are not proactive and only act when a crisis arises’.
Most UHNWs ‘are extremely aware of their reputations’, adds Lawrence Dore, founding partner of strategic communications firm DRD Partnership. However, he cautions: ‘Whether “awareness” translates into proactively thinking about their reputation can be managed, as opposed to simply worrying about it, is a key question.’
Curating a public image
It’s a sentiment that unites the reputation experts surveyed by Spear’s, who agree that clients are increasingly cognisant of the threats that exist to their reputations but sometimes do not do enough to ensure their digital footprint and public image are sufficiently resilient.
UHNWs and high-profile figures looking to find the ‘secret ingredient’ to building a bulletproof reputation or a panacea for a PR crisis will be disappointed, however.
‘Building a positive reputation first requires you to understand your current reputation. With that knowledge, you can then work out what strategy to adopt to build and maintain,’ says Tim Ramsey of Schillings.
[See also: The reputational risk of being ‘named and shamed’ as a tax defaulter by HMRC]
‘That may be proactively shaping your reputation through a personal website and owned channels, or more reactive like horizon scanning for misinformation and engaging to retract or correct.’
Finding a balance between maintaining one’s public profile while limiting the opportunities for weaknesses to be exposed or exploited is key to effective reputation management. Josh Leigh, head of Schillings’ digital resilience team, tells Spear’s the public and governments increasingly expect wealthy and high-profile people to ‘justify their value to society’. He adds that ‘one’s value is often proven or disproven through what can be found online’.
‘Creating a discreet but discoverable online profile through which one can demonstrate one’s value with evidence can effectively protect and enhance one’s reputation,’ says Leigh. But central to this, and indeed any pre-emptive or reactive reputation strategy, is integrity.
It’s a simple but crucial principle, explains Carter-Ruck partner Persephone Bridgman Baker. ‘A PR strategy can be effective without integrity but will undoubtedly be more effective if it accords with an individual’s core values,’ she says.
‘In today’s digital world, where more of our lives are held up to public scrutiny, there is an increasing desire for openness and honesty, over and above perfection.’
The dilemma of curating a public image while maintaining one’s own privacy is not easily solved, but finding a suitable balance can pay dividends. As Brett Wilson partner Max Campbell tells Spear’s: ‘Like insurance, reputation management may be considered a luxury… until a crisis unfolds.’
