Audrey McQuillan

am646319@ohio.edu

In the age of social media, the access to information has never been so widespread in any point in human history. We can hear about events occurring across the planet in mere minutes. With this access to such information, the average person has a tough time deciphering what is true and false. Social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are filled with fake accounts promoting certain political positions or societal values. Some could describe this phenomenon as “astroturfing”.

According to an article from ACB7 Denver’s Ash-Har Quraishi, astroturfing is defined as “an effort to mobilize the mass public in a way that distances that mobilization from the person who is sponsoring it or the organization that's sponsoring it”. Whether that mobilization is for a goal of political policy change or promoting a social value, astroturfing is not limited to social media. Mass protests around the country have increased significantly in the last decade, whether about police brutality, Covid restrictions, or from certain political nominations. Quraishi describes how many of these protests are not as spontaneous as they seem. 

“When things appear to be spontaneous and exciting, and especially, they're happening all over the country, that tends to gain a lot of media attention,” Quraishi states. “But many of these protests that appeared to be generated spontaneously were in fact manufactured by well-funded organizations. The practice is known as ‘astroturfing.’” While the philosophy of astroturfing has been deployed by governments and organizations for decades, it has increasingly become more widespread in the social media age. People can coordinate events much more efficiently and quickly, calling on other individuals to take part in such demonstrations both online and in the real world.

A real-world example can be found in 2018, when then-President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s position on the Court. Protests at the steps of the Supreme Court broke out almost immediately, fearing that Kavanaugh’s appointment may lead to the Court reversing decisions on rulings, such as Roe v. Wade. For a supposedly spontaneous protests, there were photographs of different signs saying, “STOP BARRETT, STOP KETHLEDGE, STOP HARDIMAN, STOP KAVANAUGH”. These were the names of the short list of candidates Trump was considering for the nomination. So, it seemed that they were ready to protest any nominee that was chosen, not just Brett Kavanaugh, and it was a planned event, not spontaneous. 

Capitol Research Center, an organization that studies non-profits to encourage philanthropy, charity, and volunteerism, went to the protest and identified many of the speakers as activists affiliated with left-leaning non-profits. This is an example of astroturfing. You can identify astroturfing when you see people, whether in person or online, calling on emotions and virtues to call people to support or oppose certain political or social policies. So, if you see this type on content in the real world or on social media, make sure to stop and think twice on if it is trying to call you to action, whether in good faith or in the service of a government or corporation.

Capital Research Center