On Sunday afternoon we watched on YouTube as SpaceX launched its Starship super heavy booster rocket. After separating from the upper stage the booster returned to base and for the first time was caught gently by the “chopsticks” arms atop the launch platform tower — ready for its next mission.
It’s an extraordinary achievement and another historic milestone in the quest by SpaceX to make space travel routine. It plans for several launches a day using reusable equipment.
Just as extraordinary, in a totally different and more sinister way, was a fake “launch” commentary on YouTube 10 minutes ahead of the official feed. Real SpaceX commentators appeared to be describing Sunday’s launch in real time. Fifteen seconds before the supposed blast off, “Elon Musk” appeared inviting watchers to scan a QR code to double their bitcoin.
To create this, the scammers must have used recordings of past launches to create voice prints and pictures of the commentators, Musk and the launch pad, then used AI to create this false commentary. It was apparently indistinguishable from the real thing.
We have reached the stage in history when seeing is no longer believing. Scammers can steal our voices and faces and put words in our mouths. As a manager, how can you protect your organisation and your people from being misled by fake news?
It begins of course by being smart in identifying fake news ourselves. This begins with being sceptical about everything. Tips for identifying fake news include preferring news from reputable news sources employing professional journalists, checking other independent sources for confirmation, doubting sensational reports or lurid appeals to emotion, and asking whether what we read is consistent with what else we know about the people involved.
A key test in my view is to consider whether the report originates from people whose interests the story serves. Close to this is the test of our own biases — if we want to believe the story, we should be especially careful to check.
Then there are useful fact-checking sites that quickly reveal, for example, that the crazy report being circulated actually originated in a different place at a different time and doesn’t mean what the gullible person forwarding it thought.
Then we need to protect our staff. Our people are subjected to external fake news daily in what they read and hear. Internal fake news pops up all the time in the form of rumours or misunderstandings that circulate with the speed of spite.
One defence against internal fake news is to be entirely trustworthy. We won’t have the credibility to refute false rumours if we have previously peddled false information ourselves. So managers need to tell the truth.
Probably the best defence is to communicate relentlessly. It has become a truism that it is impossible to over-communicate as a manager. We assume people know more than they do, so forget to communicate.
Then we optimistically assume they listen to us and understand us when we do communicate. And even when people do listen and understand, there are still as many interpretations of what was said as people who heard it. So we have to say it over and over in different ways.
A lack of clear and consistent communication is a breeding ground for fake news. Some of us may face fake news released about our company. I don’t have space here to deal with that, but this does belong in any responsible risk analysis.
Finally, I think we should all become influencers promoting true news. Let’s not leave the field to those with nefarious intentions. In the age of bots that build on the principle that a lie repeated often enough becomes true, responsible citizens can contribute by seeking out opportunities to tell the truth whenever we can.
• Cook, a psychologist and director of companies, chairs the African Management Institute.
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