Musk lawyer says giveaway winners are not random

[pixy0stix]

www.reuters.com/legal/judge-weighs-challenge-elon-musks-1-million-voter-giveaway-2024-11-04/

Elon Musk lawyer says $1 million voter giveaway winners are not random

[pixy0stix]

I wonder how long this entire scheme will be litigated.

[StrawberryBlondie]

That seems like it would make it blatantly illegal instead of probably illegal.

[fernweh]

Nov 4, 2024 13:32:45 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

That seems like it would make it blatantly illegal instead of probably illegal.

I heard speculation awhile ago that they would pull this. They are saying, it’s not random because the people are being chosen to be paid spokespeople and therefore it is a job offer, not a lottery.
Nothing illegal about hiring someone to do a job.

[sonrisa]

I hope some people who entered (hoping to win and didn't) are pissed enough not to vote for the mango menace.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Nov 4, 2024 13:36:18 GMT -5 fernweh said:

Nov 4, 2024 13:32:45 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

That seems like it would make it blatantly illegal instead of probably illegal.

I heard speculation awhile ago that they would pull this. They are saying, it’s not random because the people are being chosen to be paid spokespeople and therefore it is a job offer, not a lottery.
Nothing illegal about hiring someone to do a job.

It doesn't surprise me.

From what I've read (which, admittedly isn't much), it sounded like the "random" part of the giveaway was what potentially arguably put it into the sweepstakes bucket.

Might be a situation where there are different laws into play and it might be fine under one law but not under another.

[heat40]

Hmmm so then the appropriate tax paperwork for these “jobs” has been filed? Not sure how this argument will make things any better.

[definitelyO]

Nov 4, 2024 13:25:23 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I wonder how long this entire scheme will be litigated.

forever........... and ever............

[StrawberryBlondie]

www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musks-lawyer-says-1m-winners-arent-randomly-chosen-raise-legal-is-rcna178711

"'This is absolutely, unambiguously illegal,' Christopher Peterson, a University of Utah law professor who specializes in consumer protection, said in an email.

'You cannot lawfully lie to the public about conducting a random sweepstakes, lottery, or contest and then rig the results to hand-select the winners,' he said. 'It really is not complicated. This is just fraud; a simple, ugly fraud on the public.'”

[sonrisa]

Nov 4, 2024 18:49:19 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musks-lawyer-says-1m-winners-arent-randomly-chosen-raise-legal-is-rcna178711

"
This is just fraud; a simple, ugly fraud on the public.'”

so basically their core competency

[mcsangel2]

Now for some reason I'm thinking back to when the McDonald's Monopoly game was rigged one year.

[sju]

Trumpers got scammed…again.

[neverfstop]

I liked that it was probably illegal initially when it was limited to registered voters & then definitely illegal when they admitted they were running a scam...... I wouldn't have expected anything less than a double scam from a Trump x Musk collaboration. Can you imagine if they were in charge of anything in the government!?!?!?

[noodleoo]

Nov 4, 2024 19:05:51 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Now for some reason I'm thinking back to when the McDonald's Monopoly game was rigged one year.

There’s a documentary about this that is fascinating! It wasn’t rigged just one year, it was rigged completely!

[rubytue]

Nov 4, 2024 22:33:08 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Nov 4, 2024 19:05:51 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Now for some reason I'm thinking back to when the McDonald's Monopoly game was rigged one year.

There’s a documentary about this that is fascinating! It wasn’t rigged just one year, it was rigged completely!

Why did that trigger a memory that that documentary, or another one about rigged sweepstakes, talked about some guy from New Jersey who was the sham “winner” of several Atlantic City contests in the 80s? And you know who was heavily involved in developing Atlantic City. 

[mcsangel2]

Nov 4, 2024 22:33:08 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Nov 4, 2024 19:05:51 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Now for some reason I'm thinking back to when the McDonald's Monopoly game was rigged one year.

There’s a documentary about this that is fascinating! It wasn’t rigged just one year, it was rigged completely!

The worst part is that it made them discontinue the game! I miss it.

[fernweh]

Nov 5, 2024 0:57:10 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Nov 4, 2024 22:33:08 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

There’s a documentary about this that is fascinating! It wasn’t rigged just one year, it was rigged completely!

The worst part is that it made them discontinue the game! I miss it.

They still have it in Canada. At least they had pieces on my cup when I was there a couple weeks ago for work, maybe it was just a really old cup!