EARNED OR ENGINEERED? THE PRICE OF AN ENDORSEMENT

Players are claiming they were paid to publish political advertisements stating their endorsement of Multiman155’s presidential campaign, despite not actually backing him themselves. The allegations have raised questions over whether his campaign has been artificially boosted by endorsements that did not reflect genuine political support.

The allegation at the heart of the scandal is that Multiman155’s campaign paid new players to falsely advertise personal endorsements, crafting an appearance of support that never existed.

According to multiple accounts, Multiman155’s campaign offered a payment of $150 per advertisement to players willing to post campaign materials. The arrangement appears to have been targeted at newer players, most of whom were participating in political advertising for the first time.

Players were given a list of approved advertisements to copy and paste from, including a striking message which read: “I’m voting for Multiman155 and Just_Jada for President. You should too! Join the Campaign.”

We contacted players posting the “I’m voting” advertisements, and a different picture quickly emerged.

Of those who were paid, all of them stated that they were not voting for Multiman155. One paid endorser said, “I haven’t voted for any candidate, nor do I intend to do so.”

Endorsements are an important part of the presidential election. When a voter sees a friend advertising their support of a candidate, they rightly assume the endorsement is genuine.

These paid endorsements may have created the appearance of widespread personal support for Multiman155 amongst new players, where that support may not exist. This raises serious questions about the methods that the Multiman155 campaign uses to shape public perception.

Since the story first broke yesterday, attention has turned to whether these paid endorsements could constitute a crime under the criminal code.

The first is misleading advertising, which applies when a person disseminates an advertisement that is misleading. Did the personal voting endorsements published in /ad create a false impression about the views of the individuals involved?

The second is incitement, which applies where a person encourages another to break the law. Did an employee of the Multiman155 campaign encourage its paid advertisers to commit the crime of misleading advertising by providing them with a misleading advertisement to post?

The third is exploitation of new players, defined as exploiting the inexperience of a new player for unlawful gain or advantage. This has led to scrutiny over why the Multiman155 campaign specifically targeted new players for its paid advertising work, and whether the campaign knew that it opened up these advertisers to potential charges of misleading advertising.

These still remain allegations, and no charges have been brought by the Department of Justice against Multiman155 or any employees of the Multiman155 campaign as of the time of writing.

We attempted to get a comment from the Multiman155 campaign, but we were promptly banned from their discord server.

If proven, these allegations would extend beyond a simple campaign controversy. Critics of Multiman155 argue that this controversy demonstrates a broader pattern in the Multiman155 campaign in which inexperienced players are used as political assets without ever being informed of the legal implications of the false endorsements they are being paid to distribute.

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