Astroturfing
is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization
(e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make
it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots
participants. It is a practice intended to give the statements or
organizations credibility by withholding information about the
source's financial connection.
The term
astroturfing is derived from AstroTurf, a brand of synthetic
carpeting designed to resemble natural grass, as a play on the word
"grassroots". The implication behind the use of the term is
that instead of a "true" or "natural" grassroots
effort behind the activity in question, there is a "fake"
or "artificial" appearance of support.
In
political science, it is defined as the process of seeking electoral
victory or legislative relief for grievances by helping political
actors find and mobilize a sympathetic public, and is designed to
create the image of public consensus where there is none.
Astroturfing is the use of fake grassroots efforts
that primarily focus on influencing public opinion and typically are
funded by corporations and governmental entities to form opinions.
In
the first systematic study of astroturfing in the United States,
Oxford Professor Philip N. Howard argued that the internet was making
it much easier for powerful lobbyists and political movements to
activate small groups of aggrieved citizens to have an exaggerated
importance in public policy debates.
A study
published in the Journal of Business Ethics examined the
effects of websites operated by front groups on students. It found
that astroturfing was effective at creating uncertainty and lowering
trust about claims, thereby changing perceptions that tend to favor
the business interests behind the astroturfing effort.
The New
York Times reported that "consumer" reviews are more
effective, because "they purport to be testimonials of real
people, even though some are bought and sold just like everything
else on the commercial Internet." Some organizations feel
that their business is threatened by negative comments, so they may
engage in astroturfing to drown them out. Online comments from
astroturfing employees can also sway the discussion through the
influence of groupthink.
Data
mining expert Bing Liu (University of Illinois) estimated that
one-third of all consumer reviews on the Internet are fake. According
to The New York Times, this has made it hard to tell the
difference between "popular sentiment" and
"manufactured public opinion."
Impact
on grassroots
According
to an article in the Journal of Business Ethics, astroturfing
threatens the legitimacy of genuine grassroots movements. The authors
argued that astroturfing that is "purposefully designed to
fulfill corporate agendas, manipulate public opinion and harm
scientific research represents a serious lapse in ethical conduct."
Astroturfing
techniques
Use of
one or more front groups is one astroturfing technique. These groups
typically present themselves as serving the public interest, while
actually working on behalf of a corporate or political sponsor.
Front
groups may resist legislation and scientific consensus that is
damaging to the sponsor's business by emphasizing minority
viewpoints, instilling doubt and publishing counterclaims by
corporate-sponsored experts.
Fake
blogs can also be created that appear to be written by consumers,
while actually being operated by a commercial or political interest.
Some political movements have provided incentives for members of the
public to send a letter to the editor at their local paper, often
using a copy and paste form letter that is published in dozens of
newspapers verbatim.
Another
technique is the use of sockpuppets, where a single person creates
multiple identities online to give the appearance of grassroots
support. Sockpuppets may post positive reviews about a product,
attack participants that criticize the organization, or post negative
reviews and comments about competitors, under fake identities.
Astroturfing businesses may pay staff based on the number of posts
they make that are not flagged by moderators.
Persona
management software may be used so that each paid poster can manage
five to seventy convincing online personas without getting them
confused. Persona management software can age accounts and simulate
the activity of attending a conference automatically to make it more
convincing that they are genuine. At HBGary, employees are
given separate thumb drives that contain online accounts for
individual identities and visual cues to remind the employee which
identity they are using at the time.
Pharmaceutical
companies may sponsor patient support groups and simultaneously push
them to help market their products. Bloggers who receive free
products, paid travel or other accommodations may also be considered
astroturfing if those gifts are not disclosed to the reader. Analysts
could be considered astroturfing, since they often cover their own
clients without disclosing their financial connection. To avoid
astroturfing, many organizations and press have policies about gifts,
accommodations and disclosures.
Examples
In
response to the passage of tobacco control legislation in the US,
Philip Morris, Burson-Marsteller and other tobacco
interests created the National Smokers Alliance (NSA) in 1993. The
NSA and other tobacco interests initiated an aggressive public
relations campaign from 1994 to 1999 in an effort to exaggerate the
appearance of grassroots support for smoker's rights. According to an
article in the Journal of Health Communication, the NSA had
mixed success at defeating bills that were damaging revenues of
tobacco interests.
In 2003,
GOPTeamLeader.com offered the site's users "points"
that could be redeemed for products if they signed a form letter
promoting George Bush and got a local paper to publish it as a letter
to the editor. More than 100 newspapers published an identical letter
to the editor from the site with different signatures on it. Similar
campaigns were used by GeorgeWBush.com, and by MoveOn.org
to promote Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11.
The
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's "Fix the Debt"
campaign advocated to reduce government debt without disclosing that
its members were lobbyists or high-ranking employees at corporations
that aim to reduce federal spending. It also sent op-eds to various
students that were published as-is.
Many
organizations in the Tea Party movement are astroturfed, with direct
connections to right-wing think tanks and lobbying organizations, and
their activities controlled by wealthy supporters or the GOP.
The Koch
brothers are known to have started a public advocacy group to prevent
the development of wind turbines offshore in Massachusetts. The
Kennedy family was also involved. Corporate efforts to mobilize the
public against environmental regulation accelerated in the US
following the election of president Barack Obama.
In 2014,
the Toronto Sun conservative media organization has published
an article accusing Russia of using astroturf tactics to drum up
anti-fracking sentiment across Europe and the West, supposedly in
order to maintain dominance in oil exports through Ukraine.
In
Canada, a coalition of oil and gas company executives grouped under
the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) also
initiated a series of Canadian actions to advocate for the oil and
gas industry in Canada through mainstream and social media, and using
online campaigning to generate public support for fossil fuel energy
projects. As an example of such astroturf movements, the "Canada
Action" organization was registered in 2012 by a realtor from
Calgary, Alberta, who has said publicly that he financed Canada
Action with his own money but has refused to say if the
organization has received industry or political funds.
In 2006,
two Edelman employees created a blog called "Wal-Marting
Across America" about two people traveling to Wal-Marts across
the country. The blog gave the appearance of being operated by
spontaneous consumers, but was actually operated on behalf of Working
Families for Walmart, a group funded by Wal-Mart.
In 2007,
Ask.com deployed an anti-Google advertising campaign
portraying Google as an "information monopoly" that
was damaging the Internet. The ad was designed to give the appearance
of a popular movement and did not disclose it was funded by a
competitor.
In 2010,
the Federal Trade Commission settled a complaint with Reverb
Communications, who was using interns to post favorable product
reviews in Apple's iTunes store for clients. In September
2012, one of the first major identified case of astroturfing in
Finland involved criticisms about the cost of a €1.8 billion
patient information system, which was defended by fake online
identities operated by involved vendors.
An Al
Jazeera four part mini-series documented Israel's attempt to
promote more friendly, pro-Israel rhetoric to influence the attitudes
of British youth, namely through influencing already established
political bodies, such as the National Union of Students and the
Labour Party, or through the creation of other bodies not directly
affiliated with the Israeli administration.
In 2008,
an expert on Chinese affairs, Rebecca MacKinnon, estimated the
country employed 280,000 in a government-sponsored astroturfing
operation to post pro-China propaganda and drown out voices of
dissent.
In June
2010, the United States Air Force solicited for "persona
management" software that would "enable an operator to
exercise a number of different online persons from the same
workstation and without fear of being discovered by sophisticated
adversaries. Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly
any part of the world and can interact through conventional online
services and social media platforms..." The $2.6 million
contract was awarded to Ntrepid Corporation for astroturfing
software the military would use to spread pro-American propaganda in
the Middle East, and disrupt extremist propaganda and recruitment.
For
further info, links, references, click on the Wikipedia link at the
beginning of the introduction.
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