Former executive staff members of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation improperly used state funds to procure and employ online reputation management services to suppress negative information.
The finding was among those included in a report from New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang.
The Empire State’s IG outlined how the RIOC executive team flooded the internet with paid-for positive pieces to drown out negative coverage to manipulate search engine results.
The investigation revealed that RIOC executive staff members, including then-President Shelton Haynes and then-Assistant Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Akeem Jamal, engaged a digital reputation management firm. They were apparently miffed by what they perceived as unfair public criticisms of their performance being published online.
Jamal oversaw the effort, which resulted in a $168,680 contract with Status Labs for search engine optimization and online reputation management, the IG said. The amount that fell just below the threshold that requires RIOC board approval.
The IG also determined that Jamal’s management of the Status Labs contract posed a conflict due to his personal interest in suppressing negative articles about himself, many of which involved matters that predated and were unrelated to his employment with RIOC, according to a news release.
Additionally, while the other RIOC executive staff members were not tasked with managing the contract, they reviewed draft articles about themselves, the IG charged. They also participated in interviews with Status Labs staffers who were creating artificial positive articles.
Be the first to comment