Another day, another weird page in the dystopian novel of modern life. Yesterday, AI influencer Lil Miquela posted on Instagram claiming she wants to help her fans pay off their student loans. But there’s a catch.
The competition, in partnership with Tunespeak, offers a cash prize of $4,500 (£3,661), which – although a generous sum of money – is nowhere near enough to even make a dent in paying off a student loan. According to the small print, anyone who enters consents to having their information sold to artists and record labels, and will be sent regular marketing messages. Almost a million people have already signed up – which shows there’s a clear desire for people to rid themselves of student loan debt, something that should be achieved politically, not through marketing schemes by fake pop stars – and with 28 days left to enter, Miquela’s team will have an unprecedented amount of user information. Very cool!
As if that’s not enough, the contest isn’t because “we stan education”, Miquela is promoting her new music video for “Money”, which dropped last week (September 18). TBF she does say this in her IG video, but she describes it as “celebrating” the video. She also references multiple winners, despite there only being one.
Not to be cynical or anything, but maybe think about where your data is going before you enter.