About a week ago, AppLovin’s CEO Adam Foroughi said something that stuck with me. He described AppLovin as the “biggest company in the world where no one understands what we do.”

He made that comment on TBPN (love the pod) and he’s certainly not wrong. Unfortunately, that lack of understanding has proven to be a reputational risk for the company and its shareholders. And this week, it morphed into something bigger.

According to a Bloomberg report, AppLovin is now allegedly under investigation by the SEC for privacy-related data practices. This was likely driven by several critical short seller reports from last year and earlier this year.

Short seller reports in adtech feed off a few factors. First, this is a confusing category, full stop. Technically speaking, it’s difficult for “normies” to understand. The limited transparency can fuel misunderstanding which then leads to misinformation. Secondly, in addition to the category being complicated, so are the offerings from adtech companies. That creates a trust deficit that then gets filled with speculation and innuendo, especially for a company in mobile adtech. Keep in mind, there is a historical assumption that inventory quality is low in this space.

There are parallels in other parts of adtech, even if the details don’t fully align. In this way, AppLovin’s positioning challenge isn’t necessarily unique—but it is uniquely costly, given the company’s size and success.

This is where I come back to PR. I genuinely believe that better, more consistent PR—focused on telling a clear, repeatable story about what AppLovin does and why it matters—could literally save the company billions in market cap. Considering the company lost roughly $8.65 billion in value following the Bloomberg story, that claim doesn’t feel far-fetched.

Ultimately, a strong communications strategy doesn’t just drive press coverage. It should be more than that. If done well, it can unlock greater clarity and trust, and serve as insulation for narrative gaps that become problematic down the line. It also helps ensure executives stay on offense, not defense. And in a space like adtech, where even insiders sometimes struggle to explain what the hell is happening, the companies that communicate best will win.

AppLovin is clearly building and growing something important. But if a broader audience—from shareholders, to media, to regulators, and more—doesn’t really understand it, that’s a business vulnerability, not just a reputational one. And it’s also why good PR is so damn valuable.

👉 Building your adtech company’s PR program? Contact adtech PR expert Chris Harihar on X (@chrisharihar), LinkedIn, or by email. 

Chris is a 15-year adtech PR expert who has helped leading companies go public and guided up-and-comers to break through in a crowded market. Clients include DoubleVerify, Yahoo DSP, and more.