What NOT to Say - TechCrunch’s European Misstep

Author

Ash + Lizzy
June 14, 2025

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We talk a lot about PR as a growth engine. But sometimes, comms isn’t just about driving momentum—it’s about containing the damage.

This week, TechCrunch gave us a perfect case study in what not to do.

After laying off its entire European editorial team, TechCrunch leadership published a public letter titled “We’re not leaving. Period.” The goal was to reassure readers, founders, and contributors across the EU. The result? A lot of confusion. 

The backlash was swift—and warranted. The letter was vague, self-congratulatory, and light on the one thing audiences actually wanted: a plan.

TechCrunch's European shutdown perfectly illustrates how financial engineering can obliterate editorial credibility. | Dan Taylor

TechCrunch's European shutdown perfectly illustrates how financial engineering can obliterate editorial credibility. As much as it pains me to say this, TC's response to the growing voice of pulling out of Europe is exactly how NOT to handle the situation. After quietly laying off their entire European team and rightly feeling the heat of doing so, TC's new "Chairman and Publisher" Michael Reinstein (who you'll find under @ Michael R. but unable to be tagged) posted a defensive response yesterday evening claiming they're "doubling down" on Europe. In doing so TC's new owner has managed to turn a business decision into a reputation disaster: 1. They let the story break organically. Instead of controlling the narrative, they stayed silent while respected journalists including Ingrid Lunden, Mike Butcher ✍️, Romain Dillet, Et. al announced their departures on LinkedIn. In the wake of this trickle, the industry filled the vacuum with their own interpretation. 2. They responded with obvious corporate doublespeak. A standout of Michael Reinstein's post claims "radical presence". This after firing everyone who provided that presence. He promises coverage from PCWorld and CIO writers who have zero startup ecosystem expertise. Say wut now? 3. They ignored the human cost. There is zero acknowledgment of the journalists who built TechCrunch's European credibility over 18 years. No recognition of relationships that took decades to cultivate. 4. They're misreading the audience. Nothing trumps authenticity and relationships. PE, synonymous with hollow corporate messaging, is using typical verbiage to address people who have just lost their trusted media contacts. This is the definition of 'backfire'. One look at John Biggs' post, "Don't read their coverage and don't offer interviews. TC's value is way down and it will have no material benefit" and/or Andrii Degeler's, "To me, the latest update on TechCrunch Europe sounds like classic PE: trying to find "synergies" and "efficiencies" in all the wrong places." tells me everything I need to know. The lesson thus far: When making business decisions that affect trusted relationships, clear communications and genuine empathy aren't optional. You simply can not rebuild credibility once you've destroyed the human connections that made your brand valuable. | 20 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/posts/theoneandonlydantaylor_techcrunchs-european-shutdown-perfectly-activity-7338836912163409920-TUyV?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAGNvKQBsEYNwP3Ko70fy0YnZtTfAuDxxWM

Here’s the issue. You can’t cut a newsroom and expect people to buy into “business as usual.” Readers know better. Founders and comms teams know better. And trying to spin that kind of editorial shift without substance? It creates a vacuum that LinkedIn will fill. 

They also didn’t just eliminate faceless writers. They cut some of the most impactful names in tech journalism. People that are recognizable and respected. 

There are three big comms lessons here:

  1. If you're making a big move, don't skip the “what’s next.”
    Layoffs happen. Restructuring happens. But if you’re taking something away, you need to tell people what you’re building in its place—or they’ll assume there’s nothing.

  2. Don’t center the company. Center the audience.
    This letter read like a corporate press release, not a conversation with a worried community. That’s a huge miss. Especially when trust is already fragile. It also read like it was written by someone who doesn’t understand the legacy of TechCrunch.

  3. Tone matters more than spin.
    There’s a way to be honest and still optimistic. But that tone only works if you show receipts. Right now, there’s no new team. No coverage plan. Just promises—and a lot of disappointed readers.

This isn’t just a TechCrunch problem. It’s a wake-up call for every brand that thinks crisis comms is just about controlling the message.

It’s not. It’s about earning belief when belief is hardest to hold.

PR can’t patch over a credibility gap. It has to close it.

And if you’re not ready to show your receipts? Say less.

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📰 In the news

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  • 🗞️ Google’s AI Overviews Crater Publisher Traffic
    Major publishers are reporting 50–55% drops in search traffic after Google rolled out its AI-powered “Overview” feature. These summaries replace traditional blue links with direct answers, effectively cutting off referral traffic to news sites. It’s forcing media orgs to rethink how they drive discovery, monetize content, and stay visible in an AI-first internet.

  • 🤖 AI Scrapers Surge, Causing ‘Crawl Debt’ for Media
    New research shows AI “retrieval bots” from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are scraping content at record levels—over 26 million unauthorized scrapes in one month alone. Publishers are raising alarms over rising server costs, lost ad revenue, and the need for licensing enforcement to prevent their work from being quietly harvested for training data.

🎤 Spotlight on Fintech Creators

Curated picks for fintech pros looking for smart, niche insights:

  • 📧 This Week in Fintech

    •  Curated by: Nik Milanovic

    •  Focus: A concise, well-written weekly roundup covering the most impactful news and trends—ranging from digital banks to crypto, payments, and regtech.

    • Why Subscribe: With over 120K subscribers, it strikes a sweet spot between accessibility and depth, balancing headlines with smart analysis—ideal for anyone wanting a reliable weekly pulse on fintech.

  • 📧 Fintech Business Weekly

    • Curated by: Jason Mikula

    • Focus: In-depth analysis on banking, fintech, and crypto trends.

    • Why Subscribe: Industry insider perspective with honest, actionable insights—covering business models, regulatory updates, and tech developments. Free with a growing audience.

  • 📧 Fintech Wrap Up

    • Curated by: Sam Boboev

    • Focus: A curated collection of fintech reports, whitepapers, and expert guidelines, plus occasional deep dives (e.g., smart wallets, agentic AI, BaaS infrastructure).

    • Why Subscribe: Timely and thematic—great for professionals who want curated thought leadership and research without the noise.

⭐️ Favorite story of the week:

Meta just unveiled its most ambitious AI project yet: a dedicated lab focused on building artificial superintelligence. Not just smarter chatbots or better image generators—Zuckerberg says this team is aiming to create systems that surpass human intelligence entirely.

In a year already full of AI breakthroughs, the announcement sounds almost cinematic. The lab has a new name (the “Superalignment” team), a new org chart (folding in top researchers from FAIR), and a not-so-subtle goal: win the AGI race.

What’s striking isn’t just the ambition—it’s the speed. Meta plans to train its next-gen model by early 2026, using a custom-built data center with 350,000 Nvidia chips. This isn’t theoretical. It’s a full-stack bet on a future where intelligence itself is a competitive advantage.

While others hedge with open letters and alignment task forces, Meta’s move feels more like a moonshot—bold, tightly controlled, and very calculated. In a world full of talk, they’re building the scaffolding for something much bigger.

⚡️ [Insights] -  Convo Clips from the Week

We’ve had a lot of conversations centered around AI this week. How to increase visibility, how to be “found” on the LLMs. One interesting point that came up in a conversation was the importance of leveraging Perplexity Pages. 

Perplexity is quickly becoming a go-to source for AI-native search—and their Pages product is a signal of where content is heading. These aren’t just blog posts. They’re structured, extractable, and built to feed large language models exactly what they’re looking for.

If you're trying to build authority in an AI-first world, here's why this format matters:

  • LLMs reward clarity. Pages with clear headings, direct answers, and bullet points are easier for AI to parse and cite.

  • Authority still wins. Brands with backlinks, third-party reviews, and consistent publishing history are prioritized.

  • Recency is a signal. AI tools value fresh, in-depth content that reflects current insights—not generic evergreen filler.

  • AI and Google are linked. There’s a strong correlation between high Google rankings and Perplexity citations—but LLMs will still surface niche content if it’s relevant and well-structured

Start creating your AI awareness strategy today.  Say hello. 

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