fp.

Seems like the kind of thing someone should go to jail for. You can't just run a "social experiment" by committing fraud and lying to people, and that's assuming this isn't just an excuse someone came up with once they knew they would be caught.

empath75•57m ago

It isn’t necessarily a crime to lie or do a hoax, and a fake poll by itself is probably well within the lines of free speech. The fraud question comes into it for two possible cases:

1) someone might have paid them to do a real poll and they faked it, which is just straightforward fraud with a clear victim.

2) (the fun one) they might have done it to manipulate political prediction markets, which gets into securities fraud questions.

vessenes•23m ago

Interesting idea -- when everything's on a prediction market, all speech can be a securities fraud!

pixl97•17m ago

Hence, why prediction markets should be banned.

_def•1h ago

Normally I wouldn't say something that lightheaded but.. I think this is what psyops look like. I'm not claiming it is one. But it sure sounds like one.

Aboutplants•13m ago

That was the first thing that I thought of and it does make way more sense than a few people wanting to make a name for themselves as an actual Polling org. I don’t see the incentive in producing fake polling unless there are ulterior motives

lovich•59m ago

Always know something is bullshit when I see Gunther Eagleman show up.

jscomino•56m ago

They were trying to influence the election, they just got caught and made an excuse.

smitty1e•16m ago

That kinda rings true here.

Would we have obtained the same "confession" after next Tuesday had they remained unexposed?

Toynbeeidea•53m ago

"Its just a prank, bro."

zug_zug•42m ago

Hard to say what the takeaway or lesson is here, other than having trustworthy professionals disseminating unbiased information is a public good and losing it creates paranoia and social distrust everywhere.