Astroturfing is the practice of making people believe that a lot of ordinary members of the public like a product or support something, and are not being paid to say so — when really it is part of an advertising or political campaign. Real support from the public is “grassroots” (grass that grows from the ground). AstroTurf is fake grass, so astroturfing is fake grassroots: fake letters, fake comments, fake “concerned citizens.” A US senator from Texas, Lloyd Bentsen, is remembered for the joke in 1985: a Texan, he said, can tell grassroots from Astroturf. The word lives in news and political talk; it is not a kitchen-table word. Though actually, the line can be messy — loud fans and real volunteers exist too, and both sides like to pin this word on the other.

偽草根、人造草根（製造假民意；台灣新聞也常直接用英文）