The need to protect the internet from 'astroturfing' grows ever more urgent

[Mtnjim]

Every month more evidence piles up, suggesting that online comment threads and forums are being hijacked by people who aren’t what they seem.
The anonymity of the web gives companies and governments golden opportunities to run astroturf operations: fake grassroots campaigns that create the impression that large numbers of people are demanding or opposing particular policies. This deception is most likely to occur where the interests of companies or governments come into conflict with the interests of the public. For example, there’s a long history of tobacco companies creating astroturf groups to fight attempts to regulate them.

Full story is here (The need to protect the internet from 'astroturfing' grows ever more urgent | Internet | The Guardian)!

[Gone_with_the_Wind]

I’d rather sort things out for myself than be “protected.”