Astroturfing is the effort by a person or organization to create the impression that there is widespread support for a product or policy when in reality there is not.
The person or organization that wants to carry out astroturfing takes a number of actions. Astroturfing makes it appear that ideas or opinions held by minorities are held by the majority and not by a minority. Astroturfing is a method that is practiced in certain countries, but it is also carried out through newspapers, radio, websites, or social media channels.
A company or organization is hired to do astroturfing. This hired organization or company may prefer various channels for astroturfing. Today, these astroturfing channels include radio stations, websites, television channels, newspapers, and social media platforms.
In order to create the perception that there is more support for an issue, an opinion, or a policy than there is, this hired organization or company uses its chosen channel to spread false propaganda. For instance, it may use radio, television, or cinema to organize programs or embedded content to serve its purpose. To give another example, it creates bot accounts with fake IP addresses and fake internet history on websites and social media platforms. It then shares posts on websites and social media platforms that serve its purpose through these accounts. Nowadays, the fact that such fake ID-based bot accounts are increasingly better camouflaged, used long before the campaign dates, and have a natural appearance makes it much more difficult to detect these accounts.
Where Is the Concept of Astroturfing Derived From?
Astroturfing was inspired by the name of AstroTurf, a company that manufactures artificial turf carpets, as a contrast to the English term grassroots, which is used to describe a movement with the support of the grassroots.
What Is Astroturfing by Country?
Twitter is one of the most widely used social media platforms worldwide. It has been determined that at least 20% of the top 10 global trends on Twitter are supported by bot accounts. These bot accounts, which number over 108,000, perform specific astroturfing attacks.
There are some astroturfing activities that stand out from country to country. To give examples of these astroturfing countries:
- China: Rebecca MacKinnon's research and forecasts
- Russia: Toronto Sun story on shale gas
- Turkey: Political astroturfing and heavy bot ratio
China: Rebecca MacKinnon's Research and Forecasts
In 2008, China relations expert Rebecca MacKinnon reported that 280,000 state-sponsored fake accounts in China were engaged in astroturfing and propaganda in support of the Chinese state on the internet. According to her estimates, these accounts were used to suppress opposing opinions on any issue.
Russia: Toronto Sun's Report on Shale Gas
In 2014, the Toronto Sun, a conservative media outlet, reported that Russia was organizing campaigns in Europe and Western countries against astroturfing attacks and fracking, a method used to extract shale gas-like resources, with the aim of maintaining its superiority in fossil fuel exports.
Turkey: Political Astroturfing, Betting and Heavy Bot Ratio
It was determined that 47% of Turkey's Twitter trends in the top 5 were generated by bots and fake accounts. This is a significantly higher bot ratio compared to Twitter's global trends. A study published in 2020 analyzed the keywords used in astroturfing attacks on Twitter trends in Turkey. In this study, most of the words that appeared (n=3,211) and were used (n=2,131) were used to promote a specific product, especially betting sites.
