The world of deception has never been more diverse: the internet provided a wide selection of opportunities not only in business, marketing, craft, and personal development — alas, fraudsters became twice as active as before. The creative flow didn’t walk on by; it enabled them to devise new ways to mislead. One such creative tactic is astroturfing — a sophisticated strategy that fabricates the illusion of grassroots support. By manipulating public opinion with fake endorsements and paid campaigns, astroturfing thrives in the digital age, blurring the lines between authentic movements and calculated scam. Let’s explore how this practice works, its far-reaching implications, and how to spot the lies in disguise.
Understanding the Deception
Any internet user who deals with public campaigns encountered the beautiful word astroturfing, which surprisingly has nothing to do with space travel, astronomical objects, or rockets. The term itself seems to contain a scam within: you expect it to be the process of an astronaut soaring in space, but in reality, that's what you get — a fake appearance of support for a cause, product, or political movement.
Okay, but why is it astroturfing? What does this star/outer space prefix have to do with anything? To our dismay, it is just a coincidence. The term derives from AstroTurf, a brand of artificial grass that manipulated public opinions so that they resembled natural and organic support. As you expect, in effect, the picture-perfect results were strategically manufactured by companies, political groups, or organizations. While genuine grassroots movements emerge from the community with authentic backing, astroturfing endeavors heavily rely on paid influencers, fake reviews, and bots that simulate and stimulate widespread enthusiasm. And it's so much easier to do in today's digital age when everyone reads news portals, directly interacts with brands, and follows influencers on a dozen platforms.
Of course, the rise of astroturfing can't but arouse ethical concerns, especially regarding the erosion of trust. When consumers realize they've been misled or outright duped, they lose confidence in the entities behind the campaigns, and sometimes even the platform hosting these campaigns may sully its reputation. As you can imagine, this growing distrust may eventually take its toll: the lasting consequences include weakening the authenticity of online discourse and damaging the credibility of businesses and individuals.
Crafting Fake Support
You can't do astroturfing on a whim: it's a carefully orchestrated illusion, not unlike a mirage in a desert created by the hands of men. This fata morgana of support mimics the grassroots efforts of genuine activities, leading people to believe that the movement they are witnessing is spontaneously and authentically backed. Of course, there's no such thing as spontaneous and authentic backing: only a few smart strategies that convinced you that it existed.
Let us dwell on the tactics for a while longer so that you can spot them in a heartbeat later.
- Fake Reviews, Comments, and Endorsement. The main technique astroturfers resort to consists of fake reviews and comments created specifically to beguile consumers and/or sway public opinions. Such comments either fail to reflect real experiences, include paid endorsements in disguise (evidently, as organic recommendations), or defile competitors and undermine opposing viewpoints.
- Sockpuppet Accounts, Paid Individuals, and Bots. Oh yes, astroturfing is so much more than a bunch of suspiciously favorable comments on a marketplace — more often than not, other means are involved. While bots simply generate fake likes, shares, and comments, sockpuppet accounts, sometimes called fake online personas, represent different people and interact with each other, sustaining an illusion of human communication. With paid individuals, it's more or less clear: they are hired to create fake engagement while posing as ordinary users, enjoying the product they are commending.
- Platforms Where Astroturfing is Common. Can you believe that on some platforms astroturfing is a more common phenomenon than on others? Well, now you have to because this is exactly the case. As astroturfing proliferates on platforms where users regularly post content and communicate with each other, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok lovers are in danger — metaphorically speaking. These social media platforms remain prime locations for astroturfing campaigns due to their vast reach and the ability to quickly disseminate messages. Among other hazardous areas, you can find Amazon, TripAdvisor, and Reddit.
Abstract representation of online manipulation, as ChatGPT calls it - Coordinated Timing and Fake Popularity. How many times did we use the word fake in this article? Perhaps one time too many, but it's absolutely essential for the narrative. Fake popularity is one of the most brandishing hallmarks in a campaign like this. Astroturfers schedule their posts or reviews to appear at strategic moments, for example, during a product launch, generating a surge in online activity. People who come across such bursts of interest are inclined to trust this false impression of widespread enthusiasm.
- Influencers and Paid Shills. Pecunia non olet, said Vespasian and fell into oblivion. Certain influencers seem to share the sentiment and agree that money indeed does not stink, so why not promote a particular product or message for a few coins? After all, work is work. In short, these influencers post seemingly organic content about the product, pretending that it wasn't sponsored. To cut a more impressive swath, astroturfers enlist shills or hired commenters, who can flood platforms with positive feedback under the guise of ordinary users.
The Reality of Astroturfing
Despite the obvious backlash any company may receive after indulging in detrimental practices of astroturfing, people keep using it in their campaigns across industries and sectors, from corporate marketing campaigns to political movements, often with profound effects on public opinion. We might not need to break down everything, but the ones that backfired should be exposed, so you clearly understand the consequences.
Samsung’s Fake Reviews Scandal. Let's backtrack a little and take a look at the year 2013, a beautiful moment in history, not plagued by the touch of Armageddon standing at the door. Samsung, a powerful company whose influence effortlessly stretches across the globe, invested money in a dubious activity: hiring people to post fake negative reviews about rival products. When the tactic was exposed, Samsung was fined.
Amazon and the Battle Against Fake Reviews. Amazon is inundated with fake 5-star product reviews and turns out most of these reviews are linked to coordinated astroturfing campaigns. The working principle is simple: sellers pay individuals to flood listings with glowing reviews to mislead shoppers into believing the product is more reliable than it truly is.
Levanta Tu Voz Campaign. Back to the present day, namely the year 2023. The Western States Petroleum Association launched the Raise Your Voice campaign, which ostensibly represented Latino families opposing a rapid transition to electric vehicles due to financial concerns. As expected, the campaign featured testimonials, photos, and videos and was heavily promoted on social media, aiming to appear as a grassroots movement. However, it was revealed to be an astroturfing effort by the fossil fuel industry to preserve its interests. The exposure of this deceptive tactic led to criticism and highlighted the industry's attempt to manipulate public opinion by exploiting community fears.
Microsoft's Accusation Against Google. The same year, another marketing mogul felt like sullying its reputation: Google secretly funded a proxy campaign designed to discredit it in the eyes of regulatory authorities and policymakers. Or so Microsoft said. This alleged astroturfing effort involved funding third-party organizations to oppose Microsoft's positions without disclosing Google's involvement. Such covert actions, when exposed, can lead to significant reputational harm and undermine trust in the offending company.
Evidently, there are more cases: you can easily recall Kamala Harris spending nearly $4 million on social media influencers to promote her political endeavors and criticize Donald Trump or various disinformation campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Apparently, astroturfing is far more common than we care to admit, but it doesn't mean it always works to your advantage.
The Consequences of Astroturfing
After reading all these endless paragraphs, you may have concluded that astroturfing is another effective strategy and a real game-changer that can capture public attention and exponentially increase your income. Even if your bank account will paint a smile on your face after a few such endeavors, the long-term consequences of astroturfing practices may be devastating: eroding public trust is bad enough, but you might also find yourself engaging in legal battles, striving to regain credibility.
One of the most conspicuous repercussions of astroturfing is the erosion of public trust, which is a cornerstone of healthy interactions between organizations and audiences. When astroturfing is exposed, it creates a ripple effect that diminishes trust on multiple levels. Therefore, brands associated with astroturfing have a hard time reestablishing their credibility. In this case, consumers, and even investors, and stakeholders may consider the company as dishonest or manipulative, which leads to long-term reputational harm.
A more imperceptible ramification of astroturfing is harm done to legitimate grassroots movements: the very existence of astroturfing taints the concept of such activism. When people discover that a seemingly organic movement was orchestrated for profit, they feel less inclined to participate in similar activities, as the authenticity has been compromised. The result? Genuine cases hardly gain any traction.
In a similar vein, social media platforms of all sorts are being treated with skepticism: astroturfing deepens public suspicions, and people doubt the authenticity of online content, reviews, and campaigns. It becomes harder for media outlets to maintain their level of credibility as audiences struggle to distinguish between honesty and deceit.
Astroturfing can also incentivize regulators to tighten regulations for entire industries, so legitimate businesses may have to deal with higher compliance costs and operational challenges as these regulators clamp down on deceptive practices. If you need a decent example to illustrate the situation, think of TripAdvisor: once fake reviews in the hospitality sector were discovered, regulators imposed stricter policies on such websites, impacting even honest businesses. By the way, just keeping you posted: this August, the FTC issued the rule banning the purchase or sale of online reviews.
Can astroturfing lead you to court? Depending on your location, it is very likely that you may face trial should you succumb to the temptation of astroturfing.
United States:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actively enforces laws against deceptive advertising under the FTC Act. Fake reviews, undisclosed endorsements, or any form of consumer deception can lead to fines, lawsuits, and mandated corrective actions.
European Union:
The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive prohibits businesses from engaging in misleading advertising or creating false impressions about a product or service. Companies found guilty may face fines, injunctions, and reputational damage.
United Kingdom:
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 make astroturfing illegal, categorizing it as misleading or unfair trading. Violators can face prosecution, fines, and imprisonment.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, astroturfing isn't a harmless practice that can gain you a lot of impressions. In fact, it can cause more problems than it brings benefits. It still remains a deceptive subterfuge that manipulates public opinions, leading to reputational risks and erosion of public trust. These outcomes are the mildest of all possible consequences, as astroturfing is likely to be qualified as a crime.
