Page 23 - CCCA Magazine Winter 2017

{ FeatUre }

A situation can escalate quickly through social media. On putting the clip on social media is giving a particular point of
September 7, Equifax revealed that 143 million Americans and view. Other things may be happening that he or she does not
100,000 Canadians (later revised to 145.5 million and 8,000, re- see, and yet by showing the clip, viewers may perceive that that
spectively) had their data stolen as the result of a data breach. is the entire story. We use social media to get the story out there
The story quickly became viral, with thousands of Twitter users and we need to understand public opinion. If there’s a crisis
tweeting under hashtag #Equifax. Within two days of the initial brewing, we need to change from being reactive to proactive
report, the Chief Information Offcer and the Chief Security and social media can be used as our communication outlet.”
Offcer retired and two class-action law suits were fled. Then,
over the next couple of days, Equifax accidentally tweeted links Crisis = Opportunity
to phishing websites (websites that mirror others, normally to A crisis should be viewed as an opportunity, with organizations
steal information) to breach victims, causing further criticism working to turn the newfound attention into positive coverage.
and social media outrage. This can be tricky. When Equifax set up an alternate website for
consumers to fnd out if they had been affected by the breach,
More than Posting Updates hackers quickly exposed the vulnerabilities in the website. Lawyers
Organizations are learning quickly how social media is evolv- were advising people not to use the website and senior manage-
ing. On top of tweets and posts, live streaming video through ment was criticized once again for a poor response to the crisis.
Facebook, Periscope and other services is a growing trend. On “Even for a company going through their own crisis, you
October 3, when Richard Smith, the former Chairman and want to look for ways to pivot from victim to champion,” says
CEO of Equifax who resigned as a result of the scandal, testifed Friedman. “You want to position [yourself] as helpers in deal-
before Congress, the hearing was live streamed. ing with the aftermath of crisis. For example, Jack in the Box did
“When companies are planning crisis management, they a tremendous thing. There was a major crisis [E.coli found in its
have to ask, ‘Is this susceptible to live streaming?’” says Fried- beef in 1993] and they had a problem. In the course of the crisis,
man. “The problem is not controlling the message. In the past they hired a top guy in food safety science. They put together
fve years or so, you’ve had to become more familiar or be a part a whole safety protocol and invited other restaurants to learn
of social media. It used to be okay to monitor Twitter or Face- from them. That’s brilliant. They said, ‘We’re going to revolu-
book but more recently it’s much broader. There are so many tionize the industry and share our knowledge.’ In the frst few
different social media platforms right now. The Twitter plat- years after hearing about Jack in the Box, people will talk about
form is known for reputation bashing but what are your other what happened but also in managing the whole aftermath. Even
platforms? This reinforces the need to have expertise.” when the crisis is overall closed and there’s no more danger, it’s
In-house counsel will be well familiar with the 24-hour news best not to forget, ‘How do I turn this situation?’ You want to
cycle. Now social media experts are cautioning executives to trigger the discussion.”
watch out for the 24-second news cycle, in which viral videos In order to be equipped to turn your crisis around, manage-
create or accelerate a crisis. The video of Dr. David Dao being ment needs to be well prepared. In-house counsel have a critical
forcibly removed from a United Airlines fight in April 2017 role to play in a crisis management team, including evaluating
quickly went viral. In Dao’s home country, China, the video has risk and assessing legal options.
had more than 210 million views on Weibo, China’s version of “A crisis has an element of surprise,” says Law. “The best
Twitter. The fallout is still being felt. In late October, the avia- thing we can do as counsel is to help minimize surprises. You
tion offcers who removed Dr. Dao from the fight were fred. can have all the systems in place but the work plan can change
“Crisis management has become more 24/7,” says Wendy and the people you work with can change. You can do all the
Law, Deputy City Solicitor, City of Mississauga. “The live preventative measures but still have the surprises. In Equifax, I
streaming of an event can be misleading because the perception am sure it caught them by surprise. In managing the crisis, the
is that it’s the full truth. You don’t necessarily have the entire questions are ‘What did we do?’, ‘What do we do now to mini-
story. One person holding a phone to flm an event and then mize exposure?’ and ‘How [do we] manage our reputation?’”

“ even for a company going through their own crisis,

you want to look for ways to pivot from victim to
champion. You want to position [yourself] as helpers in
dealing with the aftermath of crisis. ”
Kelly Friedman, Partner, DLa Piper

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