Recently, Elon Musk launched a promotion on X (formerly Twitter). The promotion, however, doesn’t follow the rules that are typically required with promotions. Here’s the ad.
Complete with a video. The X post from @america touts:
Every day from now until Election Day, one registered swing state voter who signs the petition will be selected to earn $1 MILLION. SIGN HERE: petition.theamericapac.com
So, I go to petition.theamericapac.org and there’s a form entitled: “Petition in Favor of Free Speech and the Right to Bear Arms” in patriot red, white and blue. Right underneath that it says:
EARN $1,000,000
Oct. 19: John Dreher earned $1,000,000 in Harrisburg
Oct. 20: One petitioner signer will earn $1,000,000 in Pittsburgh.
Oct. 21: One petitioner signer will earn $1,000,000 in Pennsylvania.
Oct. 22 – Nov. 5: Each day, one petitioner signer from either PA, GA, NV, AZ, MI, WI or NC will earn $1,000,000.
At the bottom on the form after you fill in your information and virtual “Sign Petition” it says:
Each person may only sign this petition once. Eligible people may only list one eligible person as their referrer. Signing the petition on behalf of another person is not permitted. Before payment is made, America PAC will verify the accuracy of all information of the referrer and referee. Payments of $600 or more will require the referrer to provide a signed IRS W-9 so an IRS 1099 can be issued. To be eligible, both the referrer and the petition signer must be registered voters of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin.
At the end of the video on X it says “VOTESAFE.ORG”, so I go there. There’s a menu about registering to vote. At the bottom there’s a link for “terms” at https://votesafe.org/terms-of-use. But these are standard terms of use with no mention of the $1MM giveaway.
What’s wrong with Elon’s $1MM giveaway:
- There are no Rules
- There are no Odds stated.
- There is no NO PURCHASE NECESSARY message.
- It is unclear what it means by “earn”. Is there consideration to enter which would make it an illegal lottery? You have to be a registered voter to sign the petition and you need to refer a registered voter to sign the petition. It’s ok to exclude non-registered voters from “entering” but is there consideration involved for non-registered persons who then have to register to vote in order to be eligible to win and if the referee has to register to vote in order to make the referrer eligible to win?
- It may also be an unfair trade practice for the above reasons under each of the applicable states’ laws.
What about the applicable states’ specific sweepstakes law? Luckily for Elon, only GA has an applicable sweepstakes statute, but nevertheless:
- It may violate GA Code Sec. 10-1-393(b)(16)(D) because it doesn’t state the odds
- It may violate GA Code Sec. 10-1-393(16)(B) because it is not for the purpose of advertising goods, services or property of the sponsor.
- And because of these two potential violations, it may be an illegal lottery and unfair trade practice under GA Code Sec. 10-393.
You may recall that The Pillow Guy got in trouble for his $5 million “Prove Mike Wrong” Contest over the 2020 election. Now, Elon may be asking for trouble with his $1 million a day giveaway.
