Astroturfing - What is it?

Greg Schultz

gregschultzbasketball@gmail.com 

 

 

Astroturfing 

 

Astroturfing, according to The Guardian is "the attempt to create an impression of widespread grassroots support for a policy, individual, or product, where little such support exists. Multiple online identities and fake pressure groups are used to mislead the public into believing that the position of the astroturfer is the commonly held view." There have been a number of cases where astroturfing has taken place. People will go to blog posts or newspaper articles online, and leave comments without giving away their identity. 

This can be damaging because anybody with online access can support these grassroots policies, or products where there is no support behind it. Some even used what is known as "persona management software" and they can create armies of virtual astroturfers, replete with fictitious IP addresses, non-political hobbies, and internet histories. Before being used in a political or business campaign, authentic-looking profiles are produced automatically and developed over months or years. As software advances, these astroturf armies will become more difficult to detect, and the future of open discussion online will be jeopardized.

None of these examples from the United Kingdom come close to the scale of the operation witnessed in Russia. New software allows any organization with the finances and know-how to undertake astroturfing on a much larger scale than even the Kremlin could dream for. According to the Guardian, several large corporations are already using sophisticated "persona management software" to generate legions of virtual astroturfers.

This means that as time goes by we could see many more fake accounts or fake comments by astroturfers. This could jeopardize the natural experience of engaging with different opinions and people online. Along with social media platforms and Twitter as a main example, this has giving millions of people voices and allow more genuine opposition movements. The demand for astroturfing will only increase in the future. 

People can also use astroturfing to make themselves look better. For instance a celebrity can post things that are fake just so in the long run it can make them look better. They want their average fan to think that the life they live is significant and different from the average person. So they can show things and say things that are not really true but it goes along with the narrative that they want to live. This is happening more than ever nowadays as people try to be popular for social media and show that they have a voice.