Internal documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times reveal Purdue Pharma officials considered manipulating keyword searches to direct web traffic away from a series of articles on the opioid crisis to a site called PurduePharmaFacts.com.
It is not clear if Purdue Pharma followed through on the plan or only discussed it, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times quotes an internal Purdue Pharma PowerPoint: "By purchasing highly targeted strings of keywords that people are likely to use to find out more information about the articles, we can ensure that PurduePharmaFacts.com is at the top of a user's search results."
The articles referenced in the PowerPoint were a series published by the Los Angeles Times that linked the opioid abuse epidemic to Purdue Pharma's marketing strategy for OxyContin.
Purdue Pharma confirmed it created a website called PurduePharmaFacts.com to publish facts as a counter to "unbalanced news coverage," according to the Los Angeles Times.
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