The Scoop: Tons of AI-generated deepfakes are flooding social media. No one really seems to care.

Just after Mia Goth announced her divorce from Shia LaBeouf, an image of the actress wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with “MY EX IS MY BIGGEST FAN” began circulating on Instagram. It received more than 500,000 likes. When Googling the actress, a whole section of the AI overview was dedicated to the image, treating it as real.

For her team, the most frustrating part was that they’d already complained to Instagram about the fake account that posted it. The account, which was called @miagoth_, even had a blue checkmark, further adding to the confusion. Blue checkmarks no longer mean verification, but rather that an account has paid a fee.

“Beyond that, it is incomprehensible that Instagram evidently prioritizes the dissemination of forged and manipulated images over the protection and integrity of a public figure’s likeness,” Christine Tripicchio, a representative for Goth, said in an email to The Verge.

The account was taken down by Meta after The Verge asked about it.

In some cases, brand representatives ask for content to be removed. But sometimes, they decide it’s better to just let it ride.

YouTube, which has some of the most robust likeness identification in the social media space, said relatively few celebrities ask for their imagery to be taken down, finding it to be “fairly benign or additive to their overall business,” Amjad Hanif, vice president of creator products, said in March.

Why it matters: There are two lessons here, both important.

One is that social networks, especially Instagram, need to be better and more responsive about handling takedown requests from obviously fraudulent accounts. It’s one thing for a deepfake to pop up out of nowhere; it’s another for it to be clearly identified and still left to run riot.

The other is an old yet important maxim of PR: You don’t need to respond to everything. Yes, some deepfakes can have the potential to damage brands, such as one The Verge site that includes Taylor Swift using the n-word, or the Goth item, which could be an issue in a divorce. But in many cases, it’s not worth giving deepfakes attention.

Ask yourself: Does this pose long-term damage? Would it upset a shareholder, an employee, a prospective customer? Would it create genuine confusion? If the answer is no, it may be better for it to simply slip off to meme obscurity.

Why academia so often struggles with crisis

The New York Times did a deep dive into why so many universities seem to flounder when something goes wrong. From the current crisis at Cornell to the Penn State sexual abuse scandal to a bonfire collapse that killed 12 people, there are a few throughlines of academic crisis response.

The first and most prominent is a lack of speed. Universities are used to slow-moving committees and thoughtfully considered and thoroughly researched papers. There just isn’t time for that in today’s media environment, as Cornell learned when it took a month for the president to sit down for a public interview.

Other missteps include overly lawyerly answers, which can lack empathy, hiring outsiders for slow-moving investigations released sometimes years later, and replacing leadership, which may not solve systemic issues.

These issues are not unique to academia, even if they are common there. Today, crisis demands responses that are fast and thorough. Balancing the two is one of the greatest trials of any crisis scenario.

Five Guys celebrates its burgers and workers with docuseries

Burger chain Five Guys has released a five-part (get it?) documentary series on Amazon Prime. “On The Line: The World Burger Games” follows workers from qualifying rounds to the big stage in a burger and fry-making competition with $100,000 up for grabs.

“At its heart, this series is about the people who bring Five Guys to life every day; their pride, dedication, camaraderie and the incredible culture they’ve built across the globe,” said David Chamberlin, president of Full Day Productions. “We’re proud to partner with Five Guys and Lost Tribe Creative on this intimate, character-driven look at a tradition that celebrates the people behind the brand in an authentic and entertaining way.”

It’s a full-circle moment to see more and more brands pressing into the entertainment space, harkening back to the heyday of the Pillsbury Bake-Off (which will have its own TV special in November). Integrating brand moments with genuinely interesting stories and good production value can create brand goodwill in a way a pushy commercial can’t.

Tesla wows with an actual flying car

The video looks like AI, but it’s not. A Tesla Roadster drives up a ramp and briefly hangs upside down before beginning to plummet. The car flips over in the air, like a cat shifting to land on its feet, and begins hovering above the floor from rocket launchers.

Can you actually buy a version of the car? Of course not. “I’m not sure it’s necessarily legal in all jurisdictions,” Elon Musk admitted. But you can buy two versions that are kind of similar, minus the flying.

It’s the classic definition of a splashy PR stunt. While the product demonstrated isn’t actually available, it got a ton of attention for the event and the products for sale.

We just want actual flying cars, darn it. The Jetsons promised us.

Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.