It’s a scam.
I already covered the topic of “side-hustle gurus” who borrow someone else’s success story to push as much money-making content on the platform and fake expertise in the financial realm.
Now it’s time to address yet another shady practice that found a cozy place on Medium: selling low-quality clickbait content under the “satire” label.
You’ve definitely seen those stories by now.
The structure is the following:
Clickbait Title, that no one knows signals a piece of fiction — read lie: “How I Made $87,963 With This One Story”.
Crazy story about having made tons of money. Funny is optional.
Detailed steps on how the reader can achieve the same results.
P.S. in italics: Ha-ha, this is satire. Humour is good for you. Not financial advice.
And yes, humorous pieces are great. Satire exposing the faults of the side-hustle industry is great.
When does it become less-than-great?
When it’s repetitive behavior. A pattern. A scammer’s tool. An MO.
If this is a “writer’s” main type of content — clickbait, misleading, hiding under the satire label, then it’s no longer funny. It’s noise.
These people are taking advantage, repeatedly, of a group, exploiting their vulnerabilities, and yes… their stupidity at times.
But just because a piece of content would only be appealing to feeble-minded or greedy individuals, it doesn’t justify the practice.
You’re still selling a sugar pill to the ill-equipped.
It’s not smart. It’s predatory.
Stop it.
Thank you for reading.
—
This article was originally published on an external platform on April 26, 2022.