Comms strategies for navigating high-profile legal challenges

Many of the world’s largest technology and social media companies face legal or regulatory challenges that threaten to turn those industries on their head.

Google faces the possibility of being broken up. Meanwhile, the European Union charged Apple, Meta and other companies for failing to comply with its Digital Markets Act that aims to rein in the power of big tech companies. The China-based owners of TikTok are fighting to remain operational in the United States.

NVIDA, a leading computer chip manufacturer, faces an antitrust probe from the Department of Justice.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the future of these companies, it’s vital for them to have an approach that not only fuels customer confidence, but also reassures investors.

“Just as you want the best legal minds representing you in the court room, you need experienced communications professionals to help you navigate the court of public opinion,” said Erin Schmidt, a longtime PR pro who formerly worked for Google and has provided comms counsel to healthcare clients navigating legal and regulatory matters. “Winning a major legal battle requires mastery of both arenas.”

Legal matters add new wrinkles to crisis comms

All the usual crisis communications best practices still apply in legal or regulatory matters. But, when it comes to a high-profile court case, Schmidt strongly stressed the importance of having a grasp of the legal landscape, the arguments on both sides, and potential outcomes for the business or brand.

In United States v. Apple, the federal government and 20 states are suing Apple for monopolizing smartphone markets. In its initial public response, Apple said the case sets “a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology” and threatens the principles that set the company’s products apart in a competitive consumer market.

“That statement was undoubtedly shaped by a clear understanding of the legal landscape (Apple has every intent to fight; this will be a years-long battle), the arguments on both sides, and the broader implications for both iPhone and Apple’s ecosystems at large,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt, who is now founder and CEO of Lilypad Strategies, highlighted deciding when and how to respond as a company and when to lean on third-party allies and coalitions to carry the needed messaging. An example is TikTok’s decision to allow users of its platform to make the company’s case before Congress. Influencers and small businesses spent a day on Capitol Hill talking to lawmakers about what TikTok means for their livelihoods.

Have an established relationship

Beck Bamberger, founder of tech-centric PR agency Bam, said the effects of tech crises can spread like wildfire, especially among publicly traded companies. NVIDIA lost nearly 9% of its stock value in one day upon reports that it would receive a subpoena from the DOJ.

Overall, the PR team’s relationship with company leaders must “first, be superb and second, be absolutely trusting,” Bamberger said. She described the comms team as being the “in case of emergency contact.”

Bamberger emphasized that the response may come down to whether or not the company’s chief executive is in “founder mode,”  and “obsessed” with the details of their organizations and adamantly “in the weeds,” like NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang, Bamberger said. She described him as being vocal and public, but “not rash nor random.” He is precise and cautious, she added, noting him famously saying that pain and suffering is part of resilience, which he claims is a must for great companies.

In those types of situations, it’s the job of the comms team to take an “arm but allow” approach with the company’s leadership, Bamberger said. That means, give them the training, ruthless feedback and preparation needed to allow them to flourish with the media.

“You ‘allow’ them to interact with the media, if not encourage it,” Bamberger said. She noted that this may feel risky as many PR pros may want to “shelter” or “protect” a CEO from unscripted and on the record situations. But most “founder mode” CEOs want to play a key part in “defending their baby.”

“The DOJ case has just emerged, and I’m sure in timed, when strategically and legally appropriate, Jensen will be speaking out on the matter,” Bamberger added.

Transparency

Court cases can last months or even years, leading to extended periods of uncertainty about the future of the company. Typically, the communications teams are on the front lines of crafting responses from the public and investors – issuing statements, handling media inquiries and ensuring messaging aligns with legal and regulatory strategies.

“Work with your legal and regulatory teams to map out the likely scenarios and stakeholder reactions and have a response plan and messaging for each scenario,” Schmidt said.

While waiting for those decisions to come down, communication with customers, investors, personas – all the people you interact with, including employees – must be as transparent as possible.

“Transparency usually leads the day,” Bamberger said.

“And by transparency, I don’t mean, ‘Oh, we’re waiting for the court to decide.’ No, instead, it can be, ‘Hey, we’re obviously in a legal situation right now, on this date ‘X’ will be determined and after that after that happens, we’ll navigate our business accordingly.”

Messaging doesn’t have to delve into all the possible scenarios and prescribe responses to each one of them. After all, they’re not going to want to show the entire playbook to competitors.

The most important aspect of these situations is providing reassurance to your stakeholders.

“It’s about humans and relationships,” Bamberger said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the investors buying your stock or it’s the consumer buying the latte, or it’s the CTO of a Fortune 1000 buying your software, there’s still a human on the other side of that buying decision.”

Join us during Comms Week at the Future of Communications Conference in Austin, Texas, Nov. 13-15, where we’ll host discussions about navigating crises and stepping confidently into the future.  

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.