Status Labs
{{short description|Reputation management company}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Status Labs
| logo = Logo Status Labs.svg
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| industry = Reputation management
| foundation = {{start date and age|2012}}, United States
| founder = Darius Fisher, Jordan French, Jesse Boskoff
| hq_location_city = Austin, Texas
| hq_location_country = United States
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| website = {{URL|statuslabs.com}}
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Status Labs (First Page Management LLC){{cite news |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018-03-30/the-jumpolin-story-goes-to-court/ |title=The Jumpolin Story Goes to Court |last=King |first=Michael |work=The Austin Chronicle |access-date=December 16, 2019 |date=March 30, 2018 |language=en-US}}{{cite news |last1=Theis |first1=Michael |title=East Austin piñata store demolition drama continues amid court tussle |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2017/03/13/east-austin-pi-ata-store-demolition-drama.html |access-date=December 23, 2019 |work=Austin Business Journal |date=March 13, 2017 |language=en}} is a digital reputation management company based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2012 by Darius Fisher, Jordan French, and Jesse Boskoff.{{cite news |last1=Levy |first1=Rachael |title=How the 1% Scrubs Its Image Online |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-1-scrubs-its-image-online-11576233000 |access-date=December 13, 2019 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=December 13, 2019}} The firm has been hired by various clients to hide unfavorable news from Internet search results.
History
The clients of the reputation management company have included University of Missouri professor Melissa Click,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/us/melissa-click-suspended-missouri-professor.html |title=Melissa Click, Missouri Professor, Defends Her Actions Against Student Journalist |last1=Victor |first1=Daniel |date=February 19, 2016 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 1, 2017 |language=en}} U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Citadel hedge-fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin, Visium Asset Management hedge-fund manager Jacob Gottlieb, and the now-defunct healthcare technology company Theranos.
Fisher and French also founded the Wikipedia editing firm Wiki-PR two years earlier.{{cite web |url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/wikipedia-sockpuppet-investigation-largest-network-history-wiki-pr/ |title=The biggest sockpuppet network in Wikipedia history—and the PR company behind it |date=October 8, 2013 |website=The Daily Dot |first=Simon |last=Owens |language=en |access-date=December 16, 2019}} In 2013, Wiki-PR was served a cease and desist letter and Wiki-PR and all of its employees, contractors, and owners were declared as banned from editing Wikipedia articles after an investigation by the Wikimedia Foundation discovered that around 300 sock-puppet accounts had been editing Wikipedia pages in exchange for money from clients, including Viacom and Priceline.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/21/wikipedia-cease-and-desist-pr-firm-offering-paid-edits |title=Wikipedia sends cease-and-desist letter to PR firm offering paid edits to site |last=Arthur |first=Charles |date=November 21, 2013 |work=The Guardian |access-date=December 16, 2019 |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/wikipedia-editors-locked-in-battle-with-pr-firm-delete-250-accounts/ |title=Wikipedia editors, locked in battle with PR firm, delete 250 accounts |last=Mullin |first=Joe |date=October 21, 2013 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us |access-date=December 16, 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Planas |first1=Roque |title=Those Guys Getting Picketed For Demolishing A Piñata Store Run A PR Firm |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/20/status-labs-austin_n_6910642.html |website=The Huffington Post |access-date=February 1, 2017 |date=March 21, 2015}} Wikipedia eventually took down many of the pages associated with these edits.{{cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/11/21/5129050/wikipedia-accuses-wiki-pr-sockpuppeting-paid-editing-cease-and-desist |title=Wikipedia blames Texas PR firm for skewing hundreds of entries |last=Toor |first=Amar |date=November 21, 2013 |work=The Verge |language=en |access-date=December 16, 2019}} Despite the ban applying to its founders Fischer and French, Status Labs has also offered Wikipedia page editing as a service for hire.
In 2014, CNBC published a PR pitch they received from Status Labs that offered to pay journalists for mentions of their clients in news stories.{{cite news |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/11/pr-pitch-well-pay-you-to-mention-our-clientscommentary.html |title=PR pitch: We'll pay you to mention our clients |last=Wastler |first=Allen |date=September 11, 2014 |work=CNBC |access-date=December 16, 2019 |language=en}}
In 2015, Status Labs co-founder Jordan French resigned as chief executive officer after fallout and public outcry stemming from the February 2015 demolition of Jumpolin, a piñata shop in Austin.{{cite news |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-07-20/on-the-ruins-of-jumpolin/ |title=On the Ruins of Jumpolin |last=Caterine |first=Joseph |work=The Austin Chronicle |access-date=December 16, 2019 |date=July 20, 2016 |language=en-US}}{{cite news |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018-03-30/the-jumpolin-story-goes-to-court// |title=The Jumpolin Story Goes to Court |last=King |first=Michael |date=March 30, 2018 |work=The Austin Chronicle |access-date=July 1, 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2015-03-26/jordan-french-out-at-status-labs/ |title=Jordan French Out at Status Labs |last=King |first=Michael |work=The Austin Chronicle |access-date=December 16, 2019 |date=March 26, 2015 |language=en-US}} In October 2014, Status Labs co-founders French and Fisher bought the land on which the Jumpolin shop stood through their F&F Real Estate Ventures.{{cite web |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/jordan-french-the-landlord-who-demolished-the-east-austin-pinata-shop-has-been-forced-to-resign-from-the-company-he-started/ |title=Jordan French, the Landlord Who Demolished the East Austin Piñata Shop, Has Been Forced to Resign From the Company He Started |first=Dan |last=Solomon |date=March 26, 2015 |website=Texas Monthly |language=en |access-date=December 16, 2019}}{{cite news |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-02-27/gentrification-refugees/ |title=Jumpolin demo a long time coming, according to city records |last=Cantú |first=Tony |work=The Austin Chronicle |access-date=December 16, 2019 |date=February 27, 2015 |language=en-US}}{{cite web |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-03-13/jumpolin-and-gentrification-backlash/ |title=Jumpolin fights back |last=Cantú |first=Tony |work=The Austin Chronicle |access-date=December 16, 2019 |date=March 13, 2015 |language=en-US}} The partners commissioned a demolition crew to demolish the store in their attempt to clear the lot for a SXSW-timed stage event. The tenants said French and Fisher gave them no notice of the demolition, that their inventory was still inside the building, and that they had more than two years left on their lease.{{cite web |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-03-27/fundraiser-planned-for-jumpolin/ |title=Cenote plans fundraiser for demolished Eastside piñata store |last=Cantú |first=Tony |work=The Austin Chronicle |language=en-US |access-date=December 16, 2019 |date=March 27, 2015}}
In 2017, French filed a lawsuit against his partners Fisher and Boskoff, saying they had broken their contract, defrauded him, and misappropriated funds. Fisher and Boskoff retaliated with counterclaims that French had nearly destroyed the company. The Austin Chronicle quoted French's lawyers saying, "Fisher and Boskoff are using their positions as managers of [Status Labs] to wrongfully dissipate, misapply and waste the company's assets, for their own personal unjust enrichment, and such actions are illegal, oppressive and fraudulent." In 2018, Fisher and Boskoff were held in contempt of court for violating a federal injunction; they returned $140,000 during a court recess to avoid incarceration.{{cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2017/03/13/east-austin-pi-ata-store-demolition-drama.html |title=East Austin store demolition drama continues amid court tussle |last=Theis |first=Michael |date=March 13, 2017 |work=Austin Business Journal |publisher=The Business Journals |access-date=December 21, 2017 |language=en}}
On December 16, 2019, The Wall Street Journal published an article, "How the 1% Scrubs Its Image Online", profiling the effects of Status Labs' work to affect Google search results and Wikipedia articles. The Journal reported that Status Labs created fake news websites and then wrote and posted positive content about their clients on the sites.{{cite news |url=https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/both-sides-impeachment-trump.php |last1=Allsop |first1=Jon |date=December 16, 2019 |title=Both sides |work=Columbia Journalism Review |access-date=December 16, 2019 |language=en}} The sites, including MedicalDailyTimes.com, ChronicleWeek.com, and ChemFindIt.com, a site that once used the same IP address as Blue Land Partners, a second digital advertising agency led by Status Labs co-founders Fisher and Boskoff,{{cite web |url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_tx/0802678479 |title=Blue Land Partners LLC |website=OpenCorporates |access-date=December 16, 2019}} were meant to mimic the look of real news sites, and were included in Google News results.{{cite web |url=https://bluelandpartners.com/team/ |title=Meet the Blue Land Team |website=Blue Land Partners |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216184259/https://bluelandpartners.com/team/ |archive-date=December 16, 2019 |access-date=December 16, 2019}}