An excellent diary by Green Mother in conjunction with Chick-Fil-A getting caught redhanded got me thinking about this a bunch last night.
Congress,
Here's a tough one for you: name a key attitude towards freedom of speech that the United States of America and China agree on, while hardly any of America's allies do.
Give up? Read on after the divider.
Answer: Astroturfing. Some of you may have heard this one before, but let me go on for those who haven't. Astroturf is fake grass, and in a political context, fake grassroots. If you've ever visited a Chinese website, you might notice that the majority of people there seem pretty rabidly Chinese Nationalist. The level of scorn they heap on those who dare criticize the government is eerily reminiscent of Orwellian groupthink. And it is Orwellian groupthink - for money. "Teams of these sock-puppets are hired by party leaders to drown out critical voices and derail intelligent debates," writes George Monbiot.5 Sounds pretty horrible, right? Well, guess what- we're doing it too.
The US Military is seeking to do it. "A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom) ... to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world."6 But they're the latecomers on the stage. It's a known fact that it's already being done to our American public by corporate interests.7,8,9. "Most companies don't think that deceptive messages are appropriate in other marketing channels, but for some reason they forget this when it comes to social media."9 Whether it's attempts to fool consumers with deceptive customer reviews or flooding social networks with negative information, they are controlling and manipulating our media discourse in a heretofore unprecedented manner.
Here's the worst part: you've been aware of this since at least 2008, I'd say. That's around the time that I really noticed the takeoff for traditional corporate advertising. But let's be generous - let's say you didn't notice until your own jobs were being threatened. That'd be 2010, when astroturfing took off in a big way to affect elections.7,8 It's 2012, and nothing's been done about it. Why?
You are afraid of big corporations. It is not a secret. Though there are the politically brave or foolhardy among you, most of you hedge your bets about acting against major companies. Whether it is because you want to make certain that you have a generous lobbying job open for you after you leave the legislature, or because you believe that you must reserve your political capital for the biggest and most important fights, you rarely direct a harsh word at any industry that's pulling in nine figures on their revenue.
You are also afraid of frenzied populations. We know that Speaker Boehner never intended to hold the deficit hostage last year; he was just incapable of controlling his party, cowering under the lash of the tea party movement. What happened to Richard Lugar? "He was not, as the saying goes, caught with a dead girl or a live boy. He was just too doggone moderate, too ready to compromise with the Democrats. Thanks for that, Senator Lugar. Oh, and you’re fired."4 A population that does not like you can and will outweigh whatever strength you gain from political and corporate allies.
But that is why you must act right now. The estimated amount of money spent on media in 2012 will be 438.2 billion1. 78.5 billion of that, or 17.9%, will be directed towards the internet. By 2016, it is estimated that the amount of money spent on internet advertising methods will increase by 50%1, and the trend is only expected to increase. Industry participants expect the traditional radio to be largely superceded by internet in cars2, and estimated that 4.5 million households opted for Internet video in lieu of paid TV services by the end of last year.3.
Congress, America needs you to create a law that will ban the anonymous corporate and government manipulation of speech and thought via free social avenues. It is one thing for America to be inundated with advertising; we know that when we see Flo, we're looking at a corporate avatar, not a real woman. We can intellectually defend ourselves against that. We know what we're dealing with there. It is another thing entirely when we have no idea that we're talking to paid commercials instead of real, honest people. It needs to be outright forbidden for most aspects, and protected speech should require a disclosure at the end of every message, or with regularity during verbal speech. Failure to obey should come with harsh criminal and financial punishment to offset the difficulty of enforcement.
If you move now, you'll have the support of the technorati. Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and especially Facebook tear their hairs out trying to get rid of people who abuse their social networking and information platforms to spam, and a law to prevent astroturfing would be just as happy to take out the false Nigerian Princes and discount Cialis advertisements as it would any of the more serious and dangerous manipulations of these networks. They'd love to have your assistance. But even these giant corporations can only do so much. The longer you wait to act in this arena, the more difficult it will be. The advertisers will continue to get bigger and bigger and will fight you on this if you wait, as they assist in controlling and manipulating your constituents. Do you want to be beholden to the whims of someone else, or do you want to serve your public and their best interests? It may be difficult to act now, but the longer you wait, the more you allow inexcusable abuses of corporate power on the right of the American public and your dignity as our representatives.
In case you're wondering, freedom of speech is not the issue here; many American jurisdictions have outlawed other forms of shilling. At the local level, it would easily fall under the auspices of §17200, which states that "unfair competition shall mean and include any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising."10 As far as I am aware, this statute has never come under a first amendment challenge, and this certainly qualifies as misleading advertising - they make you think there's a real person who believes these things on the other side of your monitor - as well as unfair, because there is no way to fight back against this tactic. Limiting free speech when it comes to representing a fictional person has also been upheld at the federal level.11 Indeed, by crafting a law which would criminalize these deceptive practices, you would increase the value of true and honest free speech.
Please. Act now, before it's too late. It's in your best interest and in ours. I hope the latter is what you care about, but we'll settle for your self-preservation instincts if we have to.
1: "2011 Advertising Forecast," Magnaglobal, June 2011. http://www.neoadvertising.com/...
Magnaglobal is an arm of the Interpublic Group of Companies, considered to be one of the "big four" global advertising agencies.
2: "NPR CEO: Internet Will Replace Broadcast Radio in 5-10 Years," Blatherwatch, June 3 2010
http://blatherwatch.blogs.com/...
Comments about and quotes from the D: All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.
3: "Online Video Will Replace Pay TV in 4.5 Million Homes by Year-End (Report)," by Georg Szalai. Hollywood Reporter, July 20 2011.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/...
Refers to an SNL Kagan report; SNL "collects, standardizes and disseminates all relevant corporate, financial, market and M&A data - plus news and analysis - for the industries they cover."
4: "Paul Begala: Dick Lugar's Fate Shows When Right Is Wrong," by Paul Begala. The Daily Beast, May 14 2012.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
Begala is Research Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University Public Policy Institute, and has a long history as a strategist and consultant for the Democratic Party.
5: "These astroturf libertarians are the real threat to internet democracy," by George Monbiot. The Guardian. December 13 2010.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
George Monbiot is a leading writer, journalist, and political activist operating from Wales, in the United Kingdom.
6: "Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media," by Nick Fielding and Ian Cobain. The Guardian, March 17 2011.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Nick Fielding is a seasoned investigative reporter, and Ian Cobain is senior investigative reporter at The Guardian.
7: "(Astro) Turf Wars," by Taki Oldham. Summer 2009.
http://astroturfwars.org/
Independent investigative documentary.
8: "The Tea Party movement: deluded and inspired by billionaires," by George Monbiot. October 25 2010.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
George Monbiot is a leading writer, journalist, and political activist operating from Wales, in the United Kingdom.
9: "Social Media Sock Puppetry," by Dan Woods. February 23 2010.
http://www.forbes.com/...
Reporter for Forbes Magazine.
10: §17200, California Business and Professions Code. Accessed July 26 2012.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/...
11: FTC v. Greeting Cards of America, Inc. et al. April 25 2003.
http://www.ftc.gov/...
8:58 AM PT: Altered the demand to call for disclosure on protected speech.