Astro world? Astro what??
No, not astroworld, that was a disastrous concert earlier this year. We are talking about Astroturfing. With the whizz of all the craziness on the internet, you are probably thinking...when will it ever stop? Firstly, we can understand astroturfing as the practice of masking the sponsors of a message. For example, political, advertising, and PR, to make it appear as if this message is coming from a grassroots organization. In the end, this can alter public perception because it makes people second guess their own thoughts or opinions because another viewpoint is so widely supported...or is it? This support is artificial, just like artificial grass, called turf, hence the term "astroturfing". It's hard enough to keep up with the news today anyway, and breaking down what is real from what is false anyway...now this?
Clickbait or nah?
Now, it is no secret that as human beings we have a curious nature and we are going to give a click to whatever catches our eye. This might be a new set of golf clubs on a sporting website, or a new fancy mop bucket...the possibilities are endless. When it comes to news, there is no difference, people just click on the news that has a catchy headline, and most people don't spend much time investigating the sources they obtain their news. This is why astroturfing can become so problematic because many people who fall victim to astroturfing seldomly realize there has been any foul play.
Now there's...bots?!
We've all heard of "bots" on different websites, but what is the impact they have? Companies that partake in astroturfing also use bots to show they've got support for their movement in "numbers" of online personas. Firstly, these might seem harmless because we don't often think about them, but they are not harmless. I can think of one way a bot has personally affected YOUR choices...you might be thinking, no way! Well, have you ever purchased an item on amazon based on the reviews you've read? It was estimated in 2022 that 61% of Amazon reviews on electronics alone are fake reviews written by bots. False bot-generated reviews have directly impacted your decision to buy something---that is insane!
Think about more devious ways bots can be used- think of a moral objection you've got to something. Then you see on Twitter, or Facebook that there's overwhelming support for this specific issue, and it makes you feel like an outlier for not going with the crowd. This can sway the opinion of people, very easily, because there is a lot of research behind the strength of mob mentality.
Legality...question mark...
Unfortunately, like most things on the internet that seem absolutely scandalous...there is a lack of regulation for them. Astroturfing, while morally wrong on many fronts, is just another form of campaigning ploy that has been pulling the wool over Americans' eyes. This is just a bit scarier because it's not just a shampoo brand promising you to have no frizz, and a million people aka "bots" confirming the claim that you will have the sleekest hair you've ever seen. There are politics involved, which sway people, and leads to legislation that impacts the lives of people on a much larger scale than if everyone was suffering from frizz. Like most things in this world, there are dollars to be made, and corporations arent going to stop--even if what they are doing really sucks. We can only push back against these types of deceptive tactics and cross our fingers that legislation would be passed to prohibit Astroturfing. The problem is...the same people we want to pass laws against Astroturfing are also the ones greatly enjoying the benefits of it!
No comments:
Post a Comment