I’m really surprised “shareholders” with any intelligence don’t start calling out their investments as liars during earnings calls. Tech companies have done this shit for years. Force features into the “on” position by default, force it back on frequently, force not having an off switch to disable the feature. Then they can tell shareholders that user adoption of new shiny widget F is so popular, millions of users are “using” it. Even though the tech company just has NewThing turned on by force and users are completely unaware it is even on, if they even ever use it.

Same crap is done with streaming services partnering with cell carriers and cable providers. Falsify user numbers even if the person just gets it for free and never uses it.

These companies only do this to falsify metrics to make their quarters look good… What if they actually made features users wanted and the user numbers became real?

Or, here’s crazy talk: what if it was illegal to use such tactics to falsify numbers? Gasp.