📖 Content moderation glossary
What is astroturfing?
In short
Astroturfing is the practice of creating the appearance of spontaneous, grassroots support or opposition, through fake accounts, paid posters or coordinated messages that hide who is really behind them.
The name comes from AstroTurf, a brand of artificial grass: fake grassroots. In comment sections, astroturfing shows up as waves of similar messages from new accounts, all pushing the same view, product or attack within a short time.
Example: a week before a municipal vote on a new development, dozens of comments praising the project appear under the city's posts, from accounts created recently, using near-identical sentences. Readers come away with a false impression of public opinion.
Astroturfing is hard to spot message by message; it is a pattern visible across accounts and over time. Moderation teams look for repeated wording, recent accounts and timing. Fake reviews and undisclosed paid endorsements can also break consumer protection rules.