Musk announced the $1 million giveaway at an event in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday. The event was part of a tour supporting Trump.
“I have a surprise for you," Musk said shortly before bringing out a giant check. "We are going to be awarding $1 million to people who have signed the petition — every day, from now until the election.”
“If you look at the conditions, you must be a registered voter,” Hasen said. “And so this is essentially a lottery that’s open only to people who register to vote. So it’s either an incentive for someone to vote or it’s a reward. And either way, it violates federal law.”
He calls Musk’s actions “clearly illegal” because it violates statute 52 U.S.C. 10307© and the Department of Justice’s election manual.
Hasen said willful violation of statute 52 U.S.C. 10307© comes with a $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
“I don’t think it would be likely that he would suffer such a serious fine,” Hasen said of Musk. “Although, if he was warned that this is illegal activity and continued to do it, I think that would create a different kind of situation.”
These issues happen in other communities as well, violations just seem to happen more often in politics than anywhere else, probably because of the charged nature of politics and the increasingly polarized environment.
I wasn’t reflecting upon the faith of the position. What was bad faith was your assumption that the other person was ignorant of the way the world works. There are countless other possible explanations for this person was merely quoting the article as a response to someone being excited that Musk might get prosecuted for doing something that arguably should be illegal and he should be punished for. It’s also not a good look that you’re going around replying to people with a short response which includes a clown emoji that adds nothing to a conversation or the fact that you’re immediately questioning a moderator rather than reflecting upon your behavior and approaching the suggestion from a place of good faith. I wouldn’t be stepping in and having a conversation with you if I didn’t think this kind of behavior was harmful for the community in some fashion. Keep in mind, I didn’t remove your content or ban you, I simply started a conversation because I want this community and our instance to continue to be a nice place.