Did you send a comment to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a few years ago when it was making a major decision on Net Neutrality?
If so, your legitimate words were drowning in a sea of millions of fake comments orchestrated by broadband companies and—surprise—a college student.
Money and automation made it possible.
Now, some companies are paying millions in fines, and a multi-year investigation shows us what was really going on.
New York AG: how did fake Net Neutrality comments work?
Here is a jaw-dropping number for you: of the 22 million comments sent to the FCC about Net Neutrality, at least 18 million were fake and made up.
New York Attorney General Letitia James just revealed as much after an investigation into big companies spending big money to sway a government decision with massive consequences.
Here, James says, is the backstory:
"Instead of actually looking for real responses from the American people, marketing companies are luring vulnerable individuals to their websites with freebies, co-opting their identities, and fabricating responses that giant corporations are then using to influence the polices and laws that govern our lives."
Her office also explained how the broadband industry was involved and the strategy it implemented:
"The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that, in 2017, the nation's largest broadband companies funded a secret campaign to generate millions of comments to the FCC. Many of these comments provided 'cover' for the FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules.
This practice—disguising an orchestrated, paid campaign as a grassroots effort, to create a false appearance of genuine, unpaid public support—is often referred to as astroturfing. To help generate these comments, the broadband industry engaged commercial lead generators that used prizes—like gift cards and sweepstakes entries—to lure consumers to their websites and join the campaign.
However, nearly every lead generator that was hired to enroll consumers in the campaign, instead, simply fabricated consumers' responses. As a result, more than 8.5 million fake comments that impersonated real people were submitted to the FCC, and more than half a million fake letters were sent to Congress."
And while the industry was spending piles of cash to generate these fake comments in favor of repealing Net Neutrality rules, a real live David vs. Goliath scenario was also playing out in the comment process.
The New York AG says a college student, in favor of keeping Net Neutrality rules in place, used automation to try to balance the scales in the fake comment war:
"The OAG also found that the FCC received another 9.3 million fake comments supporting net neutrality that used fictitious identities. Most of these comments were submitted by a single person—a 19-year old college student using automated software."
Based on the numbers, it looks like the college student outdid the companies through automation.
Fake comments to government are widespread
The New York investigation into the fake Net Neutrality comments also found this type of fraud and impersonation extends across the United States. It may have even influenced decisions in your state.
And a few data companies are at the center of it all:
"Three of the lead generation firms involved in the broadband industry's net neutrality comment campaigns had also worked on more than 100 other, unrelated campaigns to influence regulatory agencies and public officials. In nearly all of these advocacy campaigns, the lead generation firms engaged in fraud. As a result, more than 1 million fake comments were generated for other rulemaking proceedings, and more than 3.5 million fake digital signatures for letters and petitions were generated for federal and state legislators and government officials across the nation."
James says she's reached an agreement with Fluent, Inc., responsible for approximately 4.8 million fraudulent comments; Opt-Intelligence, Inc., responsible for more than 250,000 fraudulent comments; and React2Media, Inc., responsible for approximately 329,000 comments in the Net Neutrality proceeding.
All or nearly all of the comments these companies created were fake, and they will pay collective fines totaling more than $4 million and agreed to changes in their business practices.
To dive deeper into this story, check out the New York AG investigation: How U.S. Companies & Partisans Hack Democracy to Undermine Your Voice
