ShodhPatra: International Journal of Science and Humanities

A Study of Specific Cases to Elucidate Astroturfing Techniques and Policy Outcomes

Around the middle of the 20th century, businesses funded the third-party groups that had no way related to them to influence and appeal the governments. This is when astroturfing started. Astroturfing is a good way to propagate incorrect information and shift political agendas since it uses secret sponsorship instead of open lobbying. The rapid advancements in Technology intensified the influx of Automated Bots, Fake social media accounts and orchestrated campaigns. These are the modus operandi of a state-sponsored deployed to split the public using Amplification techniques. Several studies observed that astroturfing is correlated with larger themes, including misinformation and corporate political tactic. Although Astroturfing is a new normal in political sphere, but the impact on Public Policies is seldom conversed. Therefore, Democracy is under threat when the genuine voices are impersonated and the interests of a few are propagated at large. This paper examines astroturfing as a deceiving strategy that impact the policymaking and disrupt the democratic institutions to benefit the lobbying groups. Consequently, the paper analyzes landmark sector-specific cases to find out how Astroturfing influences the policy outcomes through different techniques. The objective is to sensitize the stakeholders for better clarity and also suggest few countermeasures to lower down its impact.