Auld Lang Sigh

2025 was a year marked by relentless change. Capital markets and business leaders were tested on every front as policy shocks, market swings and social division put a premium on clear thinking and decisive action. We looked back through our 2025 editions to identify the themes that defined the year:

• Political volatility and policy whiplash – Extraordinary policy flux – from aggressive executive actions and shutdowns, to landmark regulatory shifts on AI, immigration, DEI and trade – forced organizations to plan for rapid reversals and build agile government affairs strategies. 

• Regulatory reset and global realignment – The U.S. and EU recalibrated regulatory approaches to tech, antitrust and foreign investment. Meta’s EU ad ban and new FDI screening rules signaled widening divergence in global standards, while dealmakers navigated heightened scrutiny and risk.

• Evolving capital markets and deal activity – Despite volatility and shutdowns, markets showed resilience. M&A rebounded mid-year, IPOs rose and Asia-Pacific emerged as a capital magnet. Early, integrated communications and stakeholder engagement proved critical. 

• Stakeholder and social dynamics – Polarization deepened, impacting consumer brands, labor and public policy. Executive scandals, culture wars and shifting consumer activism forced organizations to rethink engagement and crisis response. 

• Media fragmentation and technology shifts – AI, video podcasting, and the rise of creator journalism fractured audiences and raised the bar for authenticity, while deepfakes and synthetic media became daily realities, demanding new vigilance.

• Global and ESG challenges – Climate negotiations stalled, but energy transition and tech sovereignty gained ground. The U.S. prioritized transactional security and supply chain resilience over previous values-driven approaches.

As these forces carry us into 2026, success will hinge on the ability to anticipate shifts, manage risk in real time and maintain credibility under pressure.

Engaging creators and influencers is increasingly critical to building an effective media strategy. Understanding how to work with them requires clarity about incentives, trust and lines that are still being drawn.

To better understand this dynamic, FGS Global met with V Spehar of Under the Desk News; Maria Giannopoulos, who ran influencer efforts at the 2024 RNC Convention and Kendall Ostrow, Youtube’s Head of Top Creators. They aligned on several core realities about how creator engagement works today:

• Influencers expect real value in exchange for participation. In most cases, that value is financial – though some exceptions exist. Giannopoulos successfully offered influencers coveted seats at the RNC Convention and access to leading voices in lieu of payment (though she covered travel expenses). Even so, paid partnerships remain the norm, and expectations are increasingly standardized.

• Trust creators to write their own copy. Creators’ relationships with their audiences are personal and highly calibrated. As Ostrow noted, engaging with creators requires trust they will maximize the message in their own voice. This can feel uncomfortable for organizations accustomed to message discipline, but it closely mirrors earned media dynamics, where reporters retain editorial control.

• The lines are there, but they get hazier every day. Spehar distinguishes between “news influencers,” who tell stories aligned with personal beliefs, and “creator journalists,” who operate under traditional journalistic standards, including rigorous fact-checking. For audiences, those distinctions are often less visible, making clarity and intent more important than labels.

The European Commission has launched an antitrust probe into Meta’s planned WhatsApp policy, which could block competing AI chatbots from accessing the platform. Our Digital Insights team offered analysis on the implications of the move for both competitors and the broader AI landscape.

The investigation follows complaints from smaller AI startups, which say the restriction would cut off access to WhatsApp’s massive European user base. Regulators are focused on whether Meta’s integration of its own AI assistant creates an unfair competitive advantage. EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera indicated that interim measures could be imposed before a final ruling.

WhatsApp’s reach makes it a critical distribution channel for emerging AI tools. Restricting competitors could expose Meta to fines of up to 10% of global annual revenue and force it to restore third-party access.

The case highlights a broader trend: Regulators are increasingly scrutinizing how Big Tech deploys generative AI, especially when platform control intersects with market power. The outcome could set a benchmark for how Europe enforces competition rules in the AI era, and signal to other platforms that integration strategies will face heightened oversight.

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