Comment by tsimionescu
2 months ago
This is all very simple to dostinguish: did you pay or have any other kind of contract with the person talking about you/your product? Then it's an ad, and could be made illegal. Are you just talking to people and hoping you'll convince them to talk to others in turn? Free speech, perfectly fine.
If I'm in green tech can I set up a charity whose goal is to raise awareness of the problems of climate change and what we can do to fight it? I'll claim that I really care about it and that's why I'm in the solar business in the first place.
I mean… that means you can’t hire people to get signatures for petitions for the very thing you’re trying to get passed. I think their point is pretty fair.
Correct, you can't hire them or offer an award. You can ask for volunteers, relying on a smaller group of supporters built by word of mouth.
That'd be the supersized network-effect, making it close to impossible to challenge incumbents.
Except by tricks "well, you provided free coffee to your volunteers, that's a form of payment, you're all going to jail".
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