Hello, and welcome to the monthly Reputation Digest from Fire on the Hill, your download on all things reputation – the good and the (mostly) bad.
TikTok – saved by the bell
A last-minute reprieve has meant TikTok is back online in the US, despite being labelled by policymakers as a “national security threat”.
Users see the platform as a harmless way to participate in the latest online trends or to post cute cat videos. But U.S. officials have sounded the alarm for years about the possibility that TikTok could be used to spy on Americans and influence US politics by promoting, or hiding, certain forms of content.
Congress moved last year to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its stake in the app or be cut off from the U.S. market and this month saw the USA’s long-awaited ban on the Chinese-owned social media platform come into force. However, less than 24 hours later, users regained access to the app. A statement from the company thanked President-elect Donald Trump for extending the enforcement deadline.
You may be thinking that this is a political crisis, not a reputational one. But Tik Tok’s ban – and subsequent return to the app store – shows the importance of balancing relationships with a range of different stakeholders. Lawmakers may not be the ones using the app, but they are an important factor to consider for large organisations looking to manage their reputation.
What’s next in store for TikTok? It seems only time will tell.
NVIDIA runs into trouble
The unveiling of an artificial intelligence model from China hit NVIDIA and other US technology giants hard last week.
The DeepSeek generative AI model was reportedly developed for a fraction of the cost of its rivals, raising questions about the future of America’s AI dominance. Chinese media claims that DeepSeek has a team of under 140 people and that they used less than 2,000 advanced chips to train the model.
Following the news, NVIDIA stocks saw a 17 per cent drop in value, the biggest single-day loss in Wall Street history. For some, this is a confirmation that the company has long been overvalued
But many investors are refusing to sell. Experts in Silicon Valley have argued that the sell-off is an overreaction to DeepSeek’s latest model and that their ability to lower the cost of training AI models will increase the demand for NVIDIA’s chips in the medium term. Others have cast doubt on DeepSeek’s budget claims. But whatever the truth, it’s likely NVIDIA will face a rocky road ahead.
Fuji TV faces sex scandal
In a scandal that has gripped Japan, a former boyband member and host of a major Japanese broadcast network has been accused of sexual misconduct. Allegedly, Masahiro Nakai sexually assaulted a woman at a 2023 dinner party organised by Fuji TV staff.
Following the news, major companies pulled advertising from the channel, including Nissan and Toyota. The boycott immediately upped the stakes at Fuji, which depends on commercials for most of its revenue. Despite this, the company’s first attempt at damage control, a closed-door, camera-free press conference, only served to fan the flames. Rising Sun, a British company with a stake in Fuji described it as “an object lesson in how not to handle crises”.
Fuji’s second attempt was a ten-hour-long grilling for senior executives – lasting until 02:00. For some, this opened spokespeople up to unnecessary abuse, but others praised the tactic as a way to condense the news cycle from months into days.
The episode underlines how swiftly attitudes are changing in a country that is often mischaracterised as being old-fashioned. Firms will have to catch up fast, or face being left behind.
Image: Josh Rose / Unsplash