Koch sock puppets catapult the propaganda on Wikipedia

[pscot]

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/09/koch-wikipedia-sock-puppet/

Last year, Koch Industries began employing New Media Strategies (NMS), an Internet PR firm that specializes in “word-of-mouth marketing” for major corporations including Coca-Cola, Burger King, AT&T, Dodge and Ford. It appears that, ever since the NMS contract was inked with Koch, an NMS employee began editing the Wikipedia page for “Charles Koch,” “David Koch,” “Political activities of the Koch family,” and “The Science of Success” (a book written by Charles). Under the moniker of “MBMAdmirer,” NMS employees edited Wikipedia articles to distance the Koch family from the Tea Party movement, to provide baseless comparisons between Koch and conspiracy theories surrounding George Soros, and to generally delete citations to liberal news outlets. After administrators flagged the MBMAdmirer account as a “sock puppet” — one of many fake accounts used to manipulate new media sites — a subsequent sock puppet investigation found that MBMAdmirer is connected to a number of dummy accounts and ones owned by NMS employees like Jeff Taylor.

Soren Dayton, a GOP operative and executive at New Media Strategies, is reported to be the contact for Koch Industries at NMS. Reached by phone yesterday by ThinkProgress, Dayton exclaimed, “I’m not going to talk about this, thanks,” before hanging up. Lyndsey Medsker, a senior account director for NMS, spoke to ThinkProgress today. She explained that NMS also maintains the Koch Industries Twitter page, Facebook page, and has an active team working on promoting Koch Industries in the comment section of blogs and news websites.

As ThinkProgress has reported, the billionaire Koch brothers maintain contracts with over a dozen public relation firms and lobbying firms. Pushing back again recent scrutiny, the brothers have also relied on a conservative media infrastructure owned by the Koch brothers or closely linked to them by way of their donor conferences. We have documented how the Koch message machine has targeted ThinkProgress and even placed hit-pieces against a New Yorker journalist investigated the Kochs. But now it seems the Koch brothers are at work manipulating Wikipedia to polish their image.

[JuniperLea]

1. I believe we trip on them all throughout the InterTubes...

And I've believed this for some time now. They do it with phone calls to RW pundits and assorted asshats, it's only natural they would come out of the rotting woodwork in the 'Tubes.

[PA Democrat]

2. This is the Koch's achilles heel: their reputation

They want to do their dirty working undermining democracy, health care, the environment and workers' rights but still be ADMIRED in "polite society".

I say attack their weakness. Protest them at every society function they attend. Inform everyone you know who the Kochs are and why they should be reviled as greedy, un-American megalomaniacs that they are. Know the enemy.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer

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3. Greedy, un-Americn megalomaniacs

That meme needs to go viral.

[drm604]

4. Wikipedia needs a change to their terms of service.

It should be against their TOS to make any changes in exchange for pay or gifts of any kind. This won't necessarily stop it, but paid editors would at least think twice about possible lawsuits.

[pscot]

5. They are trying to ban the PR outfit that's doing it

But it's easy to hide your hand in this kind of operation. I'm sure willing volunteers are easy to find, or create.