Astroturfing

Astroturfing  (Statecraft)
Type	Propaganda
Interest of	HBGary
Rolling out of fake grassroots movements

Astroturf and manipulation of media messages TEDx University of Nevada

Astroturfing is a method of selling a message, organization or agenda. It is to make others (experts, politicians, the public in general or any targeted group) believe that for the promoted goal exists support by, for example: a larger number of interested individuals or experts in their respective fields. The same tactic is used to deny a message that is unwanted. It may or may not have developed in the field of advertising, but it can serve as a tool to anyone with enough founding to get their own message across (smaller agendas with the help of social media and sock puppet accounts will not even cost much).

Astroturf in a nutshell, according to Sharyl Attkisson, is:

"to try to convince you there’s widespread support for or against an agenda when there’s not."

Identifying which is an original viewpoint and what is not can get difficult when there is to much interference involved.

Science

An appropriate example for astroturfing in science is the effort to push for the acceptance of Water/Fluoridation in the early 20th century, for which the Kettering Laboratory, the University of Rochester and the Mellon Institute were instrumental to deliver the message that fluoridation does have health benefits and no risks.

Foundation funding

Full article: Foundation funding

While not as direct as building up an organization that serves to specifically promote a standpoint, foundation funding can in a way have a similar effect on a grander scale over a longer period of time.

Examples

An example for a foundation that offers funding to help to create movements or public support that would otherwise may not be as substantial or noticable is the Open Society Foundation.

 

Examples

Page name	Description
38 Degrees	British Avaaz.
Center for Medicine in the Public Interest	"nonprofit, non-partisan" big pharma astroturf
Conservative Inc.	"Big Con enforce the guidelines of Big Tech and punish conservatives on their behalf"
Patriot Front	American white nationalist group that bears many hallmarks of an FBI entrapment operation, setting the stage for a false flag terrorism event
Sock puppet	A person or online persona whose actions are controlled by somebody else.
Tiananmen	A Chinese mass protest in hundreds of cities turned violent. Questions remain about the sequence of events, CIA involvement and the scope of the aftermath after a media blackout occurred as media were mentioning threats of civil war to be increasing. Chinese media banned the mentioning of the event entirely, while atrocity stories are trotted out regularly by Western corporate media to maintain an enemy image.

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Not All Propaganda is Equal	Article	30 May 2012	Barrett Brown

 

An official example

Name
Best for Britain

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.