PR Battle of Brittain

PR rep for Arizona ridesharing company Dryvyng flips out when asked if revenge pornster CEO Craig R. Brittain sent “profanity-laced” messages to Facebook users

I recently blogged about Craig R. Brittain, founder and CEO of Scottsdale, AZ ridesharing company Dryvyng.

Craig R. Brittain (source)

Brittain previously ran the revenge porn site, IsAnybodyDown.com. The controversial site encouraged users to submit non-consensual nude photos along with identifying information about the persons in the photos, including their full name, home address, and Facebook screenshots.

In 2013, the site shut down after an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission determined Brittain had hosted fake lawyer advertisements on the site in order to trick victims into paying hundreds of dollars to have their photos removed.

Last week I was contacted by communications expert/social media strategist Brian O’Neal, who sent me a copy of a “profanity-laced” Facebook message he claimed he received from Brittain after O’Neal unfriended Brittain on Facebook.

When I attempted to verify the authenticity of the vituperative message with Brittain’s company via Facebook, here’s what happened:

Dryvyng
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Transportation Service

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THU 7:04AM

Dean: Hi, my name’s Dean, I’m a blogger. Recently I got an e-mail from a communications executive named Brian O’Neal who said you sent him a “profanity-laced” Facebook message because he unfollowed your Dryvyng page. For an item on my blog, could you comment on O’Neal’s claim? Cheers – Dean

: Thanks for contacting Dryvyng. Someone will be with you shortly! Thank you!
: No one at Dryvyng has ever spoken to or heard of him. Best regards.

Dean: He sent me a screenshot.
Dean: I’ll send in a minute.

: Screenshots can easily be faked. People have agendas. We have never heard of or spoken to that person.
: Lots of people recently have fabricated conversations involving supposed members of our company. It is a common trend.

Dean:

: Looks like an impostor. Many people impersonate our CEO and send random messages. The only official accounts that represent our brand are this one and Craig’s verified account. Unverified accounts are impostors.

Dean: It appears to have been sent from this group account managed by Craig Brittain: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1634585306815040/admins/?ref=group_cover

: Groups cannot send messages.
: Only pages and users can send messages. Any user account/page without a verified tag is not one of ours.

Dean: Apologies, I’m not up to scratch with Facebook’s messaging system, but it’s my understanding that you can reply to direct messages as admin.

: Groups cannot send or reply to messages.

Dean: Cheers, thanks for answering my questions.

: Thank you.

Dean: Also, mind if I ask who I’m talking to?

: This is Doug Childs, PR rep for Dryvyng.

Dean: Rechecked and apparently the message was sent from Craig R Brittain’s account, not the group account. Did you ask Craig if he sent this?

: Any account that does not have the verification checkmark is not one of our accounts.

Dean: Just to clarify, this account does not belong to Craig R Brittain: https://www.facebook.com/craigbrittainbackup?ref=br_rs

: It is not one of our accounts.

Dean: Do you have any idea why people might be creating fake accounts for Craig?

: There are many people with political agendas and many fake news websites that want to generate clicks.
: As a top 3 company in a competitive field we face a lot of media adversity from the fake news which is why we haven’t received more positive coverage.

Dean: Pivot Foods founder Charles Peralo has also accused Craig of sending abusive messages via his verified account: https://www.facebook.com/charlesperalo/posts/1133303780024154

: Lots of political opponents make all kinds of false accusations about us based on the actions of political opponents and/or their own motivations for attention.
: They know the fake news will print whatever they want people to believe, so they fabricate stories and/or engage with unverified accounts and report it as fact.

Dean: Again, thanks for answering my questions. One last thing: do you have a link to a website or online profile for your PR services?

: I work specifically for Dryvyng. Dryvyng is my only client.

Dean: Do you have any online presence at all that I can link to?

: No, intentionally.

Dean: Okay, thanks.

: Charles Peralo is a known hoaxer and scammer who is also a legitimate political opponent of our CEO.

Dean: Do you have any evidence for these claims and could you provide links please?

: Craig Brittain is currently the frontrunner to become the Libertarian Party Presidential nominee in 2020.

Dean: I didn’t know he was part of the libertarian party.

: There is no need to prove Peralo is uncredible. He has failed to prove that he is credible.
: No one has ever seen anything Peralo has done or even verified that any of his work exists. We are verified and thus credible via verification.
: Peralo has 35 twitter followers.
: Not 35k, not 35m, 35.
: Not a credible or notable source. A fake.
: Lots of these fake experts hoax in order to get attention.
: They make up conversations that never happened, or alter conversations that did to benefit themselves.
: That is how fake news works. The mainstream media does it in almost every story and the bloggers copy the formula.
: 99% of all news is fake and can be dismissed as such
: Made up to keep people believing whatever they want to believe.
: It is easy to understand why Mr. Peralo is jealous of Mr. Brittain’s success.

Dean: I’ll certainly ask him about this. Cheers

: Brittain’s verified Facebook page gets up to 1m impressions and tens of thousands of engagements per day
: Dont ask him, he isnt credible.
: Why would you ask a noncredible person what they think? Ask someone with credibility
: A long list of credible people and celebrities support Brittain. They have affirmed his greatness.
: Dont print fake news about randos that nobody cares about, print real news about all the great people that support us.
: You havent even asked about our company at all so it is clear you aim to print fake news.

Dean: His Twitter account only has thirty plus followers but his Being Libertarian account has almost 5k. I simply got a tip from Brian O’Neal and I’m following up.
Dean: Thanks for answering my questions.

: You didn’t get a tip from anyone. You have a personal connection to Brian O’Neal and you are acting on his behalf to print fake news.
: Get a real job.

Dean: That’s incorrect.

: False, it’s correct, fake news.

Dean: Cheers again. Thanks