Corporate-Funded Online 'Astroturfing' Is More Advanced and More Automated Than You Might Think

By George Monbiot, The Guardian
Posted on February 24, 2011, Printed on February 25, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/150049/

Every month more evidence piles up, suggesting that online comment threads and forums are being hijacked by people who aren’t what they seem to be. The anonymity of the web gives companies and governments golden opportunities to run astroturf operations: fake grassroots campaigns, which 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.