“That probably feels like a real accelerant in the last six to 12 months, is AI as a way to hypercharge that velocity and distribute it to even more of those channels instantaneous- ly,” Jarvis-Shean said. At Texas Roadhouse, Chief Communica- tions Officer Travis Doster is seeing more of all of it. He finds himself chasing down false stories almost daily, while AI-generated fakes have become a weekly occurrence. In one recent example, a TikTok user named @zandermarlow posted a video from inside a Texas Roadhouse showing what he claimed was a camera in the light fixture above the table, “watching you eat.” The possibly innocent but wildly misin- formed post generated more than 3 million views and spilled over into some news out- lets, drawing a denial from the steakhouse chain along with a detailed discussion of its lightbulbs: “There are absolutely no cameras in any of the light fixtures in our restaurant,” the com - pany said in a statement to the US Sun. “The lightbulbs we use are called ‘silver dome’ and are used to reflect light back into the fixture, reducing glare and softening brightness. We use them for guest comfort and ambiance.” While that rumor started on social media, Doster said news sites will frequently pick up those rumors and publish them without checking whether they’re true first. “It seems like somebody makes an accu- sation, and it skips the traditional route of filtering by a news organization and immedi - ately gets run,” he said. Though the story may eventually be corrected, some readers will never see it. It’s a challenging time for traditional me- dia outlets. Fewer consumers are clicking on stories and visiting news websites, thanks in part to social media and the rise of AI-pow- ered search engines and chatbots. From 2020 to 2025, average monthly traffic to the top 1,000 websites declined by more than 11%, according to data from analytics company Similarweb. The Columbia Journalism Review warned of a “traffic apocalypse” for online news. This has led to newsroom layoffs, which places more responsibility on the shoulders of fewer journalists. “They probably can’t take the time to fact check as much,” noted Schalow, which means restaurants have to be that much more vig- ilant about policing inaccuracies themselves. The news industry’s struggles have also created an environment that incentivizes the sensational. Consider this headline from Time Out Worldwide: “Olive Garden is shutting down all of its 900 stores for 24 hours. Here is why.” Spoiler alert: It was for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
FALSE STORIES HAVE BECOME A ROUTINE ISSUE FOR MANY RESTAURANTS. | RESTAURANT BUSINESS IMAGE USING AI
or misleading storylines has become a routine part of the job. In just the past couple of months: • Cracker Barrel worked to corral a misleading narrative about its em- ployee meal policy. • A seemingly AI-generated news site called Earthlings 1997 reported that BJ’s Restaurants was filing for bank - ruptcy. (It is not.) • A TikTok user claimed that Texas Roadhouse hides cameras in its over- head lighting. (It does not.) • Former Chuck E. Cheese CEO David McKillips had to publicly deny rum- ors that he’d stepped down because his name was in the Epstein files. (It was, in an innocuous list of attendees of a business conference Epstein was also attending). The idea of “fake news” is not new, but several factors have allowed it to flourish, including the dominance of social media, the rise of AI and the weakening of traditional media gatekeepers. “I think what has changed is the velocity at which it comes at us,” said Elizabeth Jar- vis-Shean, chief corporate affairs officer at DoorDash, which dealt with its own case of misinformation earlier this year. “The distri- bution channels are so much more available,”
which is why it seems to be happening more frequently. Indeed, the flashpoint for many of the above incidents is social media, where narra- tives, real or not, can quickly catch fire and cross over into mainstream news, podcasts, blogs and other outlets. At the same time, social media is becom- ing a news source in its own right. Accord- ing to the Pew Research Center, about 53% of Americans now get at least some of their news from platforms like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. The problem is that social media is not always a reliable source. Each person’s feed is algorithmically tailored to their own views and interests, enveloping them in an informa- tion bubble that may not reflect reality. On top of that, unlike in traditional news media, social media users are under no obligation to tell the truth. “Other than shouting fire in a movie theat - er, I can kind of publish what I want,” said Jacqueline Babb, associate professor of inte - grated marketing communications at North- western University. “And so it is increasingly difficult to figure out as a consumer what’s true and not true.” Adding another layer to the issue is the rise of artificial intelligence, which is fueling the creation and distribution of fake news.
APRIL 2026 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
19
Powered by FlippingBook