Blame as a Service

Summary

Productized scapegoating Instagram and Twitter were the defining cultural companies of the 2010s. These platforms created explicit status games where users compete for social capital via metrics such as followers and likes, creating a world where online perception is upstream of real-world outcomes. The social dynamics of these platforms has been extensively written about. Companies are now finding themselves dragged into the same status games. They are increasingly going direct, with edgy X accounts and marketing stunts. In the PR-driven information age, companies have higher budgets allocated towards managing their social perception. Companies are particularly interested in paying for services that reduce their likelihood of being associated with negative press. These social dynamics create demand for professional blame absorption. Just as Software as a Service lets companies rent specialized technology services instead of building it, Blame as a Service (BaaS) lets companies rent scapegoats instead of becoming them. These third-party BaaS firms absorb the backlash from unpopular but profitable decisions, allowing their clients to pursue what actually drives their bottom line without sacrificing their carefully cultivated brand image. The characteristics of a typical BaaS company includes: Offers a bundle of services that conceal their true value proposition of blame absorption Shields elite decision-makers from decisions with negative externalities Benefits from network effects as their blame-absorption capacity scales We are beginning to see more BaaS companies in the Average is Over era. The elite class across industries is smaller but growing in power and increasingly willing to pay for institutional lackeys that protect their interests while maintaining plausible deniability. BaaS companies engage in third derivative work. They don't do the work directly or build the tools, instead deciding what should be done and absorbing the blame for the consequences. In ...