Who Posted Your Fake FCC Comment?

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So who actually posted your fake comment? And why yours?

The short answer? Broadband for America's hired hands.

According to a 2021 report from the New York Attorney General [PDF], the telecom executive-led group financed (at least) three campaigns to submit anti-Net Neutrality public comments to the FCC. The leaders of these campaigns, in turn, subcontracted other companies to gather the comments, and even paid other advocacy organizations to pretend that they were actually behind the campaigns.

However, these three campaigns ultimately submitted millions of these fake comments in bulk themselves.

Based on now-public records from the FCC and Data.gov, as well as the New York Attorney General's investigation report, these campaigns -- and responsbile parties -- are as follows:

Comment Campaign #1

Poster: Ethan Eilon (Vertical Strategies, Protecting Internet Freedom)

Method: Box.com bulk upload, Data.gov API

Identity Stealer(s): Fluent, Inc.

Sourced From: Online banner ads (DVDs, male enhancement pills, etc.)

Front Group(s): Center For Individual Freedom, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Free Our Internet

# of Comments: ~ 5 million

Fake Comment Text Templates:

Center For Individual Freedom

• "Before leaving office, the Obama Administration rammed through a massive scheme..."
• "The current FCC regulatory scheme known as..."
• "The Obama-era FCC regulations known as..."

Free Our Internet (No web presence exists anymore)

• "In 2015, wealthy leftist billionaires and powerful Silicon Valley monopolies..."

• "Rapacious Silicon Valley monopolies like Amazon, Twitter and Netflix are now..."

• "In 2015, President Obama's FCC passed rules treating the Internet as a government regulated public..."

Taxpayers Protection Alliance

• Obama's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) forced regulations on the..."

• "In 2015, Chairman Tom Wheeler’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC)..."

• "As a concerned taxpayer and consumer...

Comment Campaign #2

Poster: CQ Roll Call

Method: Data.gov API

Identity Stealer(s): Fluent, Inc., Opt-Intelligence, React2Media, others not named

Sourced From: internet ads for “free cash”, gift cards, product “samples”, previous data gathering campaigns

Front Group: Center For Individual Freedom

# of Comments: ~2 million

Fake Comment Text Templates:

• The same comment templates listed under "Center For Individual Freedom" in Campaign # 1 above
• "I was outraged by the Obama/Wheeler FCC's decision to reclassify the Internet..."
• "The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is..."

Comment Campaign #3

Poster: Shane Cory (MediaBridge)

Method: Box.com bulk upload

Identity Stealer: LCX Digital

Sourced From: leaked database from Modern Business Solutions, previous LCX Digital comment campaign

Front Group: American Commitment

# of Comments: ~1.85 million

Fake Comment Text Templates:

• various generated, "Mad Libs" style text

• "The FCC's Net Neutrality rules were written in the Obama White House by political staff..."
• "Obama's Net Neutrality order was the corrupt result of a corrupt process controlled by Silicon Valley..."
• "The free-market Internet was an incredible engine of economic growth, innovation, and job creation..."
• "The Title II order created a gaping gap in privacy protections by..."
• "Title II is a Depression-era regulatory framework designed for a telephone monopoly..."