Astroturfing Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

In political science, astroturfing is an attempt to give the false impression that a certain candidate or policy enjoys widespread grassroots support of the community when little such support exists. Many companies perform astroturfing to hide the financial and business associations between the company and the message, potentially making corporate messaging more palatable to a public that might reject forthright propaganda. From the video, Astroturfing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, we can evaluate the video's strengths and weaknesses in presenting the issue of Astroturfing, explain how John Oliver defines Astroturfing, and what examples does he use to prove his point about astroturfing and define what the dangers of astroturfing are

Astroturfing, according to him, is a strategy used by businesses or organizations to establish fictitious grassroots movements to look as though their cause has a lot of support. This is accomplished through setting up phony social media profiles, paying individuals to post supportive comments or take part in protests, or supporting front organizations that pose as speaking for a particular community's interests. The purpose of astroturfing is to intentionally fabricate support for a certain subject or product to influence public opinion and give the impression that the support is broad. Astroturfing, in Oliver's opinion, is dishonest and improper behavior that compromises the integrity of public

The cause of this then leads to a wide spread impairment of the public's perception of an issue and may have an impact on political decision-making by giving the impression that a candidate or subject is supported widely. Astroturfing may also destroy public confidence in political institutions and procedures because it raises concerns about the legitimacy of political groups and the motivations of their leaders. Astroturfing diminishes the ability of voters to make informed decisions and holds their elected leaders responsible when it is let grow and produces a false picture of reality. Astroturfing ultimately devalues the public's confidence in the political system and the democratic concepts of accountability and