This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jaclyn Rothenberg, senior vice president for reputation management at Avoq, a communications and lobbying firm. From July 2021 to late 2024, she was a spokesperson and director of public affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
It was the fall of 2024. I was the director of public affairs at FEMA during Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which was a huge moment in the world of misinformation because there was so much of it, so fast. And it was in the middle of the election cycle.
My job was to communicate on behalf of the administration. The primary goal was to make sure that people were connected to services and support so they could get back on their feet.
In the middle of the response, as we were communicating safety and recovery information, other public officials and I were targeted. A mix of people were insinuating that we weren’t doing our job. They were also spreading misinformation.
As I reflect, what was really surprising to me at the time was getting attacked for my religion. I’m Jewish. There were a lot of people online who could say anything and everything without knowing me — very hurtful things.
‘How can you keep doing this?’
I remember my husband saying how upset he was. I think I had mentally tried to block out as much as I could because I felt empowered by continuing to do my job and communicating life-saving information.
I remember him saying, “How can you keep doing this?” The reality is, I was hired to do a job. In Judaism, they really do teach you to do what’s best for people. It’s a phrase called tikkun olam.
I continued to work through it as much as I could. The social media posts made fun of my appearance, my last name. There were very terrible things said and photos that were shared, and very antisemitic rhetoric.
It forced the agency to put security protection on me, because someone threatened to kill me. That was surreal because I was hired to be a communications lead for the agency. I was technically a political appointee, as a Biden administration official. Still, it felt like one of the first times when people weren’t just going after politicians, but also federal employees for doing what they were hired to do.
A contractor had been working with us to help identify misinformation. I believe they alerted the senior-most folks at my agency, who then brought the threat to my attention. Everyone was working almost 24-hour days. A colleague said, “We need to speak with you urgently.” They told me that there was a real, serious threat.
Staying vigilant
The catalyst was a public statement I had put out, pushing back against misinformation. I left my home because the people who were targeting me online found my address, my husband, and my parents. They looked into my work history. I called my husband and said, “We need to call our friends. We need to sleep there. Let’s get the dogs and go.”
Members of senior leadership personally reached out to ensure that I felt safe.
It wasn’t just my parents and my husband. They identified my extended relatives and posted those on social media. The agency worked hard to help me scrub some of that, and I’m thankful for it, but it’s something that a lot of companies should be thinking about. It’s important for people to stay vigilant.
It’s not just the CEO they’re going after
In hindsight, the incident was probably more traumatizing than it felt in the moment, because I think I was in shock. Also, I was still doing my job. I was committed to communicating in these critical moments for survivors, and I don’t think it fully hit me — the magnitude of that incident — until months later. The fact that I had to be silenced for my own protection and couldn’t help other people was hard for me.
I had to tone down public communication from the spokesperson account. I had to stop doing media interviews about the topics that I was trying to get out there. We saw a decrease in registration for assistance. There was real impact.
As a result, one of the things I’ve counseled clients on, both at the C-suite level and below, is that it’s not just the CEO they’re going after. They’ll go after the head of HR, the head of communications.
This is the new normal, unfortunately. It’s important for companies to do exercises on how to respond and how they can protect their senior executives and employees at the same time.
Companies have to think about what protection looks like from a privacy standpoint on social media. I don’t think people really realize the online footprint that they have.
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