Archive for March 20th, 2018

copy culture by Will Lion (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/4ZvMLY

Dialling Up the Bell Lobbying Playbook: Production Company Website Blocking Submissions Using Identical Script

With just over a week left in the CRTC’s comment period on the Bell coalition website blocking proposal, the Commission has now received thousands of comments with the vast majority opposing the plan. While supporters of the site blocking approach have dismissed the opposition, Bell’s tactics in drumming up support deserves further examination. Last month, I blogged about its astroturfing campaign, which involved encouraging employees to submit comments without any reference to the need to disclose their corporate affiliation.

In addition to the internal efforts, Bell has clearly reached out to others with template language that can be used for submissions. Some customize their submissions, but many simply copy the supplied language verbatim.

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March 20, 2018 4 comments News