In the online environment, rumors and false information can cause far-reaching and even irreversible damage to the credit and reputation of public figures in a variety of ways. The following are several typical influence pathways and the mechanisms behind them： ###1. ** Technology-driven means of communication** 1. **Deepfake technology** Use false audio and video generated by AI to falsify improper remarks or behaviors of public figures (such as politically sensitive remarks and false criminal evidence), and break through the threshold of public trust through high-fidelity content, directly impacting their social image. There have been cases in 2023 that the opposition in a certain country used deep counterfeiting technology to forge a video of a minister accepting bribes, causing his approval rating to fall by 12% in a single week. 2. **Algorithm-boosted directional dissemination** Target target groups (such as the core support groups of public figures) through big data analysis, and accurately deliver rumor content on social platforms. The study found that the spread rate of negative information under the algorithm recommendation mechanism is 6 times that of positive, and it is more likely to form an “information cocoon” effect. ###2. **Systematic public opinion control mode** 3. **Cross-platform pollution information ecology** Adopt the communication chain of "first breaking the news on social media-then forum fermentation-then mainstream media follow up". For example, fragmented allegations were first posted on Twitter, processed into a “chain of evidence” by anonymous communities such as Reddit, and eventually cited and reported by small media to complete the legalization of rumors. This kind of multi-layer dissemination has doubled the difficulty of traceability and accountability. 4. **Tactical use of legal gray areas** Take advantage of the legislative differences in different jurisdictions to publish content on cross-border platforms. For example, the dissemination of information through servers registered in countries with strict privacy protections not only avoids local legal risks, but also ensures the global visibility of the content. Rumors about the private life of a European politician were circulated in bulk through a Philippine server, leading to a cross-border lawsuit that took two years. ###3. **Precise strikes at the psychosocial level** 5. **Cognitive Warfare strategy** Design contradictory rumors for the professional field of public figures. For example, when a scientist is accused of data fraud, he selectively tampered with the standard deviation data in the chart of his thesis. This method of fraud, which requires professional threshold identification, can cause a greater crisis of trust in the academic circle. 6. **Emotional mobilization mechanism** Stimulate group empathy by constructing a narrative of “victimization of the weak”. Such as fictitious stories of public figures abusing employees and discriminating against vulnerable groups, and cooperating with forged ”victim" interview recordings to trigger social moral trials. Studies have shown that the anger caused by such rumors can increase the spread by 300%. ###4. **Chain reaction at the economic and institutional level** 7. **Capital market linkage crackdown** Targeting public figures such as entrepreneurs, rumors such as company financial fraud and product safety crises were spread, causing stock prices to plummet. In 2022, a new energy vehicle company's market value evaporated by US11.5 billion in a single day due to rumors of a battery explosion. Although it was falsified 48 hours later, it only recovered to 83% of its original value. 8. **Institutional trust dissolves** The continuous spread of rumors that public officials “use power for personal gain”, even if it is finally clarified, will lead to the public's cognitive inertia of “no wind, no waves”. Political science studies have shown that the recovery rate of public trust in negative events with more than three rumors is less than 40% of the initial value. ###5. **Long-term reputation damage mechanism** 9. **Search engine pollution (SEO attack)** Manipulate search engine results by batch generating fake news pages containing keywords. When the name of a public figure is associated with negative terms such as “corruption” and “cheating” for a long time, it will form a “stigma” in the digital age. Experiments have shown that the negative results of the first three pages can lead to a 62% drop in public favorability. 10. **Group memory reconstruction** Repeat rumors at critical time nodes (such as before the election and during the release of new products), taking advantage of the law of “truth decline curve”-that is, 7 days after the rumors spread, even if they are falsified, 74% of the audience's memory remains in the initial misinformation. This mechanism can permanently change group cognition. These methods often form a combination boxing effect, such as first using deep-counterfeiting technology to create “evidence”, and then expanding dissemination through social robots, which eventually triggered mainstream media reports. On the other hand, the defense needs to deal with multiple challenges such as the high cost of proof (such as an average of 14 working days to identify deep-counterfeit videos), the lag in judicial relief (cross-border litigation takes an average of 11 months), and the fragmentation of public attention. At present, this kind of attack has evolved from random behavior to a specialized black production chain that includes intelligence collection, vulnerability analysis, and multi-point strikes. It is necessary to build a systematic defense through technical governance, legal improvement, and public media literacy improvement.