Summary

Elon Musk’s pro-Trump group, America PAC, selects $1 million giveaway winners based on their potential as spokespeople rather than randomly.

The Philadelphia district attorney Lawrence Krasner alleges this violates state consumer protection laws. “This was all political marketing masquerading as a lottery, albeit an illegal lottery,” Krasner said.

The U.S. Department of Justice has warned America PAC the giveaway could violate federal law, according to media reports, but federal prosecutors have not taken any public action.

The outcome of the lawsuit could impact the group’s ability to continue the contest, which has already awarded $16 million to registered voters in battleground states.

    • Limonene@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      Well, it’s no longer an illegal lottery. So that’s good.

      It’s just a rigged lottery. Slightly different thing. Also illegal, but for slightly different reasons. More unethical and fraudulent than before.

      So it makes things better, and then makes things way worse.

  • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    It’s interesting how this is only being reported now - the day before election day. When the early-voters already cast their ballots, and when the campaign no longer has to worry about keeping up the charade.

    How many people signed onto this thing only because they thought they could be the lucky winner? It’s not like they can take it back now. Musk got exactly what he wanted - tons of signatures of support from registered voters in swing states, that can now be trotted out as some kind of “proof” for his preferred candidate when he loses.

    On the one hand, some people do not know about, or even would believe, this news. Like die-hard MAGAts and/or people who don’t pay attention to current events.

    But for the people who signed the petition for the hell of it, hear about this now, and who are capable of accepting bad news? Oh, they will be pissed. I wouldn’t put it past such a person to respond, “Well, fuck you, too” by not voting tomorrow, or by specifically voting for Harris.

    I can’t expect the number of such people to be very high, but I do think that spite is a powerful force. Those who were on the fence before now have a personal reason to distrust Trump. And right in time to express it at the voting booth!

  • ATDA@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    So the end game is to award nobodies, he thinks are going to be good potential spokespeople, to get out the message?

    Hi I’m some random loser that was gifted a million dollars, listen to me AstroTurf!

    Stellar

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      Imagine submitting your name to be in a lottery, that isn’t a lottery and actually results in a background check on you to see if you’re who they’re looking for.

      Insane.

  • KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    29 days ago

    Why not just…hire spokespeople for a PAC at $500k/yr based on a public contest/audition about making right wing content? Same outcome, not at all illegal.

  • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    My wife knows a winner. They’re def random lol.

    Someone gonna go to jail over this.