When 'groundswell of opinion' is deceptive

Astroturfing - or the creation of a fake grassroots movement to suggest that more people feel strongly about an issue than is actually the case - was highlighted by PM Lee Hsien Loong recently. Commenting on it, SMU Asst Law Prof Eugene Tan points out that a slew of identical e-mail messages, word for word, could well be sent by people who wholly agree with what they say.