Paramount Caught Using 'Astroturf' Group to Drum Up Fake Support for Merger

Paramount employed the nonprofit Neighbors for Strong Communities to text Californians, urging them to pressure Attorney General Rob Bonta to dismiss his antitrust suit. The group, formed three months earlier, disclosed no founders, board members or funders and operated from a UPS-store PO Box, a pattern identified by The Intercept as part of Paramount’s campaign to manufacture support for its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros.