A Secretive Firm Tried (and Failed) to Fix an Epstein Friends Tattered Image

> Specifically, Terakeet created and posted positive online content about Ms. Ruemmler that was aimed at appearing above the mostly negative content about her association with Mr. Epstein. The goal was that at least 80 percent of the first 30 Google search results would be favorable.

> To pull this off, the firm, based in Syracuse, N.Y., resorted to the furtive, algorithm-placating digital tradecraft that has made it one of the most exclusive and expensive players in the booming world of reputation management firms that combine public relations and technical skills to maintain a preferred narrative online. (Mr. Epstein himself tried to do the same sanitizing of his digital presence, although not with Terakeet, with seemingly similar, unsuccessful results.)

> One lucrative account for Terakeet, according to four former employees, has been the United Arab Emirates and its ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba. Much of Terakeet’s work, which according to Foreign Agents Registration Act records began in July 2019 and continues to this day, focuses on optimizing Google searches in an effort to promote tourism in the U.A.E.

> But Mr. al-Otaiba, a well-known figure in Washington social circles, was concerned in 2017 about a story published in The Intercept that reported he once had ties to sex workers and traffickers. (Mr. al-Otaiba declined to comment, beyond confirming that Terakeet has done work for the U.A.E.) A small team at Terakeet set to work to push the damaging story off the first page of Google search results.

> Terakeet’s team first established a personal web page for Mr. al-Otaiba. The firm then used an anonymous editor handle called VentureKit to create a fraudulent, sock puppet account, Quorum816, to add positive information about Mr. al-Otaiba on his Wikipedia page in 2020, according to two individuals with knowledge of the events. (In August 2021, Wikipedia reversed the edits made by Quorum816 and suspended the account as well as VentureKit.)

> For these efforts, the United Arab Emirates paid Terakeet more than $6 million from 2020 through 2022. By 2023, the mission had been accomplished. The Intercept story had sunk to page 2 in the Google search results. Today for most users, it languishes on page 5.