> From this chart we can see that the pro-repeal comments (there are approximately 8.6 million of them) are much more likely to be exact duplicates (dark red bars) and are submitted in much larger blocks.
> On the other hand, comments in favor of net neutrality were more likely to deviate from a form letter (light green, as opposed to dark green bars) and were much more numerous in the long tail.
Key findings of the analysis:
> One pro-repeal spam campaign used mail-merge to disguise 1.3 million comments as unique grassroots submissions.
> There were likely multiple other campaigns aimed at injecting what may total several million pro-repeal comments into the system.
> It’s highly likely that more than 99% of the truly unique comments³ were in favor of keeping net neutrality.
The most important chart is here: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*Sc4-R2waeRrGnNL90...
> From this chart we can see that the pro-repeal comments (there are approximately 8.6 million of them) are much more likely to be exact duplicates (dark red bars) and are submitted in much larger blocks.
> On the other hand, comments in favor of net neutrality were more likely to deviate from a form letter (light green, as opposed to dark green bars) and were much more numerous in the long tail.