Explains all the BYV postings“Astroturfing”
“The need to protect the internet from 'astroturfing' grows ever more urgent
The tobacco industry does it, the US Air Force clearly wants to ... astroturfing – the use of sophisticated software to drown out real people on web forums – is on the rise. How do we stop it?
Every month more evidence piles up, suggesting that online comment threads and forums are being hijacked by people who aren't what they seem.
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…
It now seems that these operations are more widespread, more sophisticated and more automated than most of us had guessed…
As the Daily Kos has reported, the emails show that:
- Companies now use "persona management software"…
- This software creates all the online furniture a real person would possess: a name, email accounts, web pages and social media…
- Fake accounts can be kept updated by automatically reposting or linking to content…
- Human astroturfers can then be assigned these "pre-aged" accounts to create a back story, suggesting that they've been busy linking and retweeting for months…
- With some clever use of social media, astroturfers can, in the security firm's words, "make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/herself to key individuals as part of the exercise … There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to fictitious personas." (emphasis added)
“The need to protect the internet from 'astroturfing' grows ever more urgent”
George Monbiot’s Blog, guardian.co.uk, 2/23/11