Shadows and Screens: Exploring the Impact of Astroturfing as a Facet of Fake Reviews in the Movie Industry’s Social Media Dynamics

Our research critically investigates the impact of social media astroturfing on movie sales, the circumstances under which it appears to have an effect, and the negative implications associated with this practice. Leveraging a distinct dataset from the Chinese movie industry, we utilized panel vector autoregression to dissect the dynamics between social media astroturfing, box office revenues, and the performance of media across digital and traditional platforms. We further applied a dynamic matching approach to address the identification issue. Our findings suggest that while social media astroturfing might temporarily boost box office revenues, its effectiveness is limited to the short term, and it harbors negative consequences for consumers. By systematically examining the effects of social media astroturfing, our study enriches both academic literature and practical understanding, cautioning against the reliance on such deceptive marketing tactics. © 2025 by the Association for Information Systems.