
Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming its users - JamesTheHacker
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/8793
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jpxw
For a browser which prides itself on being the ethical and privacy-focused
choice, farming its users out like this seems bizarre.

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stefan_
The genius play was having their own cryptocurrency, so they get all the bag-
holders to defend them unquestionably. Live in this thread!

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rasengan
This title should be changed. The user is clearly on a mission to defame
Brave. The title does not match the GitHub post.

This post here by JamesTheHacker is slander at best.

~~~
earthtolazlo
I see posts attacking the messenger quite often whenever someone points out
yet another cryptocurrency scam. Can you respond to the actual content of the
thread?

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huffmsa
Brave isn't actively scamming anyone. You have to sign up and put your own
money in the pot with etoro for anything to get a cut.

If you're willynilly giving people money for complex financial instrument's,
you probably shouldn't have control of your own money.

~~~
eh78ssxv2f
That's a very "brave" position. We will show you ads without following laws of
the land (Ctrl-F "FTC" in the github thread). If the user falls for our
unlawlful ads, then it's the user that's stupid?

~~~
huffmsa
I understand that Brave is supposed to show the affiliate disclaimer. Which
they should.

But is etoro an illegal company?

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hither2
OK, I suppose this is good reporting, but it is not the scandal you think it
is.

Also, etoro does a lot more than cryptocurrency-trading.

Edit: This is a repost too. Interestingly the title of the other post "Brave
Browser earning commissions promoting high risk blockchain platform" less
click-baity got 2 points, 1 comment.

~~~
cortesoft
It is not good reporting, though. What new information is being brought to
light? Brave makes it clear they generate revenue via ads, and this is an
example of an ad.

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hither2
I was being non-confrontational.

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maallooc
> Using a browser that the company depends to make money on

Who thought this was good for the first place?

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hu3
> Using a browser that the company depends to make money on

Mozilla gets paid roughly 500m/year for letting Google be the default search
engine.

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BrendanEich
Not that much, by my estimate (I have no inside knowledge).

How many of you work for free, BTW? No hands, huh.

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smabie
I don't see the problem with this. Etoro is not a scam and CFDs are not shady
in the least bit. It's just an ad, which other browsers have as well. I don't
think this guy really knows what he's talking about or if he does, maybe he
should state more clearly what he finds objectionable. Ads in brave? The kind
of ad?

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Meekro
Calling this a "scam" is misleading and inflammatory. eToro is exactly what it
claims to be: a cryptocurrency exchange. Certainly there have been scammy
exchanges that run off with people's money, but the author hasn't presented
any evidence that eToro is one of those.

Brave has been completely up-front about their "sponsored images" advertising
program, as you'll see if you read the entire GitHub thread. They are easy to
disable, or you can choose to leave them on and get paid for having to look at
them.

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huffmsa
You have to be participating in Brave Rewards to see the ad.

If you're participating in a crypto token rewards program, you should
hopefully have your head on your shoulders tight enough not to blindly sign up
for everything you see.

If you don't, well you probably will after you lose a few bucks.

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flyinfungi
There a way to remote the ads from Brave? They are quite annoying.

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hundchenkatze
There's a toggle "Show Sponsored Images" in the dashboard settings.

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nothrabannosir
This guy seems to be on a crusade against Brave. Huge drama in the comments,
all from one account. Incendiary title and tone, was doomed never to be
constructive. Now it's on HN to get what, more views? A mob?

TLDR: Brave advertises for eToro. Is that ethical?

The way it's framed: brave scams its users.

There is probably a good discussion to be had about the ethics of advertising
for a trading platform by Brave, but you won't find it here.

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kome
brave is a terrible business model. terrible. yet another private - walled
garden - solution to a common problem.

why people can't just understand what the internet is and how it works?

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fourstar
If anyone “understands the internet and how it works” — it’s Brendan Eich.

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armitron
If he understands the Internet and how it works (I doubt it), he's chosen to
pervert it. Read "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" to get a better history of the
real geniuses behind the Internet.

Look to people like Alan Kay to remind you of how far we've moved from the
potential that was inherent in the medium. A platform designed for
decentralized robustness and rapid information exchange perverted into a
delivery medium for ads, surveillance and centralized control.

~~~
huffmsa
Yeah that first noble idea was running on free academic and government
research money.

Things change when you don't have a patron.

