South of the Border: Attack of the Bots
Those internet bots sure seem to get around these days. Our southern neighbors had a little trouble with a pro-nuclear scam just recently.
It seems that a long-time industry support group, the so-called Consumer Energy Alliance, was involved (or were they?) in a campaign of fake emails to South Carolina state legislators. The emails impersonated South Carolina voters and were ‘cookie-cutter’ comments in support of Dominion Energy’s proposed takeover of a failed nuclear plant construction project down in the Palmetto State.
The fake emails used a system of pre-written pro-utility messages set up online by the Consumer Energy Alliance. The group denied knowledge of the fakes until they were brought to its attention by state authorities, legislators, and journalists. The scam was uncovered by the Post and Courier newspaper (Charleston, SC). The paper also reported that there had been at least two similar previous cases (Wisconsin in 2014 and Ohio in 2016) in which the group’s online campaigns were involved.
To help the “Consumer Energy Alliance” remember the problem next time, a Post and Courier columnist composed a handy pre-written complaint letter to the group, and invited readers to send it to them. Take a look at his draft here.
We love good investigative journalism, especially when it includes a nice snarky edge.
