

Ask HN: Is it illegal to display false metrics on your SaaS site? - tolk

I'm referring to metrics like "number of users", "number of X processed by our users", etc.<p>I've seen some VERY newly launched SaaS sites that claim to be "used by thousands of customers" which I find hard to believe. Of course they could have had a lengthy private beta where they got those signups but I'm still curious.<p>Is it illegal? Does it depend on the country where their company is incorporated? Does it constitute misleading advertising?
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byoung2
I suppose it is possible to fake metrics without lying...you just have to be
very misleading. The "number of users" metric, for example, is not clearly
defined. Does it mean total number of warm bodies who signed up? That's hard
to fake. Is it the number of rows in your user table? That's easy. If people
can register multiple accounts, then 1000 people could have 10,000 accounts
and claim 10,000 unique "users".

It is also easy to get users by having a free tier. You could have 100,000
free users and 10 paid, and claim to have "100,000 customers". Or if your
service is targeted at businesses, who then resell to their customers (an MLS
service for example), then you might claim that your service is "used by
100,000 customers" even though you only sold to 100 businesses.

You also have to read the wording carefully. There is a dentist near my house
that advertises "We specialize in Zoom teeth whitening, as featured on Extreme
Makover". You might assume the dentist was featured on the TV show, when in
fact it was only the Zoom product/technique that was featured.

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hobin
Lying is, at least where I live, not illegal.

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byoung2
I live in the US, and there are many cases where lying is illegal, including
perjury, libel, slander, fraud, filing a false police report, failing to
disclose certain known facts during a sale, misrepresenting earnings of a
corporation, and so on.

~~~
hobin
A fair point, and also true where I live. Let me modify my original statement:
lying, at least where I live, is in most cases not illegal.

