Are you being Astroturfed?

Trish Tierney (tt318700@ohio.edu)

There is so much going on these days in regards to what we read, post and hear. Is it fake news, opinion based or hoax? And, now we add in the possibility of Astroturfing. No, that is not a term for a football field.

What is it?

In the event I am not the only one who had no clue what Astroturfing was, Merriam Webster provides a definition:

"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."

Why should we care?

Well, in my opinion this allows anyone to post as if they are involved with the product or cause. It provides credibility to something that the participant may not even know. For instance, if I was a Blogger with a good following (or any following), I could be approached to post to start or participate in a grassroots campaign to support a particular product, even if I have never used the product. I could post several times under different login names and post on different sites. It makes the product appear to be popular and it makes consumers believe it works. That is all it takes: a Blogger, a computer and the message. Fake or not.  

https://www.ganador.com.au/retailsmart/2014/1/22/the-dark-side-of-social-media

We need to care about this because it is extremely misleading. We do not know if the person posting has reliable or correct information. The cartoon above is amusing but Astroturfing is far from amusing when it misleads the public.

According to George Monbiot, from the Guardian, “The anonymity of the web gives companies and governments golden opportunities to run astroturf operations: fake grassroots campaigns that create the impression that large numbers of people are demanding or opposing particular policies. This deception is most likely to occur where the interests of companies or governments come into conflict with the interests of the public. For example, there's a long history of tobacco companies creating astroturf groups to fight attempts to regulate them.”

Yes, you read that right, we are being misled from a major corporation such as the Tobacco Industry. Not shocking I guess, but very wrong!

What do we do?

One way to solve the issue is to be wary of what you read. There are also algorithms that can be run by corporations and businesses to detect it. Of course, that does not help the individuals who are just surfing. My best guess is to say be cautious and verify, verify, verify. And, be aware of the possibility of Astroturfing. I had never heard of it, but you can bet I will now be wary!