23 August

Astroturfers (people who create fake ‘grassroots community’ movements) also create ‘turnkey’ action kits, which they distribute to communities to use, to create the impression the community has objections or support. Here’s one for AI data centres, being circulated in communities. Most of this stuff comes out of dysfunctional America, and social media (also American) then gives it instant access to other countries, right down to the individual community level. Assume most ‘trending’ public issues you see every week are astroturfing. Nothing to do with the community you live in at all. Social media did this, everybody lives there now, making them easy prey for astroturfers, even those who live on the other side of the world. The anti-lockdown Covid action a few years ago was also astroturfing, generated by extreme libertarian groups in the US.