Ethics of Astroturfing

Kisha Ravi

kr208215@ohio.edu

Misinformation is a common problem today. When talking about misinformation, our minds usually think of the current state of the news industry and the internet. What isn’t talked about enough is the other aspects like astroturfing.

Astroturfing is defined as “the attempt to create an impression of widespread grassroots support for a policy, individual, or product, where little such support exists.” The internet and technology have made it increasingly easy for companies and groups to create fake movements to influence policy. While it may seem like it would be easy to spot such grassroots given they can’t be backed up, it’s not always that easy, much like the difficulty associated with spotting fake news.

There are different forms of astroturfing that we see online. Some include videos in favor of these “movements”, fake profiles and digital identities of people who support the fake grassroots, and even fake online reviews.

source: undraw.co

Astroturfing can also take the form of paying individuals to show up for a business in ways to make it look more popular and successful. One of the biggest examples is, McDonald's hired 1,000 part-time employees to get in line and create talk about the launch of their new burger in Japan. They were paid a mere $11 per hour to turn up even before the store opened up and it turned out to be a new set record for McDonald’s in Osaka.

While businesses indulging in astroturfing is unethical in itself, it becomes even more concerning when this phenomenon takes on a political nature. The Washington Post laid out the three different kinds of astroturfing seen in the year 2016. You had the bots, the fake profiles, and dark-money memes. It’s interesting to look at the use of memes in the process of astroturfing because it is a fairly new occurrence or trend, and it blends right in with the rest of social media culture.

The PRSA states in its code of ethics, “We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public.” Astroturfing is without a doubt unethical and like for the rest of the information out there, we need to develop the tools and skills to identify misinformation, in whatever form it may be. We need to be more mindful about our media consumption.

-->