Astroturf campaigns

An astroturf campaign is a fake grassroots movement: it purports to be a spontaneous uprising of concerned citizens, but in reality, it is founded and funded by elite interests. Usually an astroturf campaign is a corporate persuasion tool. These uprisings are fronted by professional liars posing as activists, made to look like ordinary people, and are usually funded by corporations or other self-interested organizations.

Astroturf is fake (synthetic) turf (grass).