Misinformation proliferates in the online sphere, with evident impacts on the political and social realms, influencing democratic discourse and posing risks to public health and safety. The corporate world is also a prime target for fake news dissemination. While recent studies have attempted to characterize corporate misinformation and its effects on companies, their findings often suffer from limitations due to qualitative or narrative approaches and a narrow focus on specific industries. To address this gap, we conducted an analysis utilizing social media quantitative methods and crowd-sourcing studies to investigate corporate misinformation across a diverse array of industries within the S\&P 500 companies. Our study reveals that corporate misinformation encompasses topics such as products, politics, and societal issues. We discovered companies affected by fake news also get reputable news coverage but less social media attention, leading to heightened negativity in social media comments, diminished stock growth, and increased stress mentions among employee reviews. Additionally, we observe that a company is not targeted by fake news all the time, but there are particular times when a critical mass of fake news emerges. These findings hold significant implications for regulators, business leaders, and investors, emphasizing the necessity to vigilantly monitor the escalating phenomenon of corporate misinformation.

翻译：错误信息在网络空间泛滥，对政治和社会领域产生了明显影响，干扰民主话语，并对公共健康与安全构成风险。企业界也成为假新闻传播的主要目标。尽管近期研究试图分析企业错误信息及其对企业的影响，但其发现常因采用定性或叙事方法、且仅聚焦于特定行业而存在局限。为弥补这一不足，我们采用社交媒体量化方法与众包研究，对标准普尔500指数中跨行业的错误信息进行了分析。研究表明，企业错误信息涵盖产品、政治及社会议题等主题。我们发现，受假新闻影响的企业同时也会获得权威媒体报道，但社交媒体关注度较低，导致社交媒体评论中负面情绪加剧、股票增长放缓，且员工评价中压力提及率上升。此外，我们观察到企业并非持续遭受假新闻攻击，而是在特定时段出现假新闻的临界数量。这些发现对监管机构、企业领导者和投资者具有重要启示，强调需要警惕并持续监测日益加剧的企业错误信息现象。