The largest Internet providers in the US funded a campaign that generated "8.5 million fake comments" to the Federal Communications Commission as part of the ISPs' fight against net neutrality rules during the Trump administration, according to a report issued Thursday by New York state attorney general Letitia James.
Ars Technica
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Nearly 18 million out of 22 million comments were fabricated, including both pro- and anti-net-neutrality submissions, the report said. One 19-year-old submitted 7.7 million pro-net-neutrality comments under fake, randomly generated names. But the astroturfing effort funded by the broadband industry stood out because it used real people's names without their consent, with third-party firms hired by the industry faking consent records, the report said.
The New York Attorney General's Office began its investigation in 2017 and said it faced stonewalling from then FCC chair Ajit Pai, who refused requests for evidence. But after a years-long process of obtaining and analyzing "tens of thousands of internal emails, planning documents, bank records, invoices, and data comprising hundreds of millions of r ..
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