[NEWS]Hong Kong Influencer Charged for Allegedly Promoting Online Gambling

[Vaculin]

This is the typical behavior of most *shit-fluencers.
They don’t do their homework. They are only are the money and benefiting themselves while ignoring the potential harm on their fans.
Well, this one is going to be a scapegoat to others. Ignorance in the eyes of the law is no excuse.
I hope other shit-fluencers in her category learn from her mistakes if not they will be learning from their own.

They learned their lesson the hard way, that they have to be imprisoned first before they can realize the outcomes of their wrong doings. In fact, a lot of influencers these days are making a good living through promoting illegal online casinos, hopefully they will learned from this and focus more on making positive contents than choosing to feed their own greed and end up in jail.

This influencer knows exactly what she's doing, but because there is no action yet from authorities, she continue to pretend she is doing the right thing.

[Cryptohygenic]

This is the danger that is associated with following influencers, and promoting an unregulated gambling platforms. While following influencers, you have to do that with caution. Even regulated platforms are also promoted, but their are some countries who does not take it kindly with people or influencers who try to lure bettors into an unregistered or unlicensed platform. Many times, these influencers even tell gamblers to get registered through their own link while they get their own percentage, and at the detriment of the gamblers.
This action by the Hong Kong government is a very good one, because it will help to secure the safety of bettors in Hong Kong.

The prompter was just lucky that her layer was vibrant enough to standout and defended her for the bail.
I also believe that the lawyer lied and if the law want to take its justice, ignorant like this promoter claiming that she did not know the casino was operating illegal won't be an excuse else, everyone haven apprehended and prosecuted for breaching the gambling policies should be granted pardon too because they should have one or two reasons for their actions with the casino that got them in the trouble.
Sometimes the casino may have gone underground to intervene for the promoter which is she should be released.
Don't mind these authorities, their strict regulations on gambling is just as a means to make money from offenders like this promoters case.

[suzanne5223]

As the title says, an influencer in Hong Kong is charged with promoting offshore online gambling. According to the article, the influencer is facing up to 7 years in prison and a fine of up to $638,000, which is HKD 5 million in their currency. Her lawyers argue that the influencer thought that what she was doing was legal and that the casino's operation was legitimate. Right now she is released on bail after he court appearance.

She thought what she did was legal? How? I guess her lawyer was just using the strategy of saying she thought she was doing the right thing, to tackle the influencer penalty, because the gambling rules and regulations of Hong Kong are clear that any of their citizens should not use foreign sports betting sites, play poker, or use online casinos.

[alani123]

Imho good on Hong Kong

They live thanks to Chinese subsidies so they have to follow mainland rules too
 

Hong Kong shouldn't be the laundromat for all the Chinese criminals and live scot free from this ordeal. Online promotion of unregulated gambling is always harmful and should be restricted. Yes the people that benefit from it on the individual level should be met with some consequences too. Maybe not going to jail but just enough disincentive so they stop.

[Orpichukwu]

It’s getting to a point where, as an influential figure who accepts promotional advertising, you need to have a legal team who can verify if an offer matches your country's laws or not before you accept it to avoid being punished for what you don’t know, although some of these influencers actually know what they are doing and believe the law can’t catch up with them.

Is it possible for an influencer not to be aware that his country doesn't support such promotions ? It is going to be hard to believe such confession unless it is a law that was just passed few days or weeks ago but if it is something that has been in existence then the influence should be punished for accepting such deals. Some influencers are just after the pay they do not do background checks to verify the information that some of them put out there and some do not verify to know how genuine the company they want to promote is so when they are found guilty it is an opportunity for others to learn from their mistakes.

Gambling is legal in Hong Kong; at least the licensed and government-approved casinos are allowed to operate. It's possible that a casino can be popular in a country without even being regulated. Unless you ask or approach the government directly, you will never know if they are registered or not. This could be the case here; I’m just guessing, which is why I said influencers need a legal team that could help them verify those. There is also a high chance that they know but still decided to play dumb because of the money they are offered.

[logfiles]

Her lawyers argue that the influencer thought that what she was doing was legal and that the casino's operation was legitimate.

This is how far greed can get you if left unchecked. Perhaps the money offered to her blinded her to an extent that she forgot the laws of the land. They might just try to make an example out of her for the rest of the potential influencers.

I personally don't like the influencer approach when it comes to gambling promotions. Those people are even given fake money on the platform to bet/stake to convince the innocent users

[goldkingcoiner]

This is the typical behavior of most *shit-fluencers.
They don’t do their homework. They are only are the money and benefiting themselves while ignoring the potential harm on their fans.
Well, this one is going to be a scapegoat to others. Ignorance in the eyes of the law is no excuse.
I hope other shit-fluencers in her category learn from her mistakes if not they will be learning from their own.

No surprise there. Influencers are usually the worst kind of parasites. And not very bright either. So obviously they are not going to do their homework and will follow anyone that waves a wad of money in their face. They also have no morals or decency, they would promote anything, no matter how scammy or horrible as long as they get paid.

I have never understood how people can be so gullible to follow influencers. My only guess is that there are people in this world who are even more idiotic than the influencers they follow.

I do not idolize any influencer. Not some guy with only 100 followers and not Elon Musk either.

[Hispo]

It is kind of silly how the defense of the I fluencer was to say she did not know she was doing something illegal within the territory of Hong Kong, as if not knowing laws was an excuse to go unpunished after violating them.

Anyways, that is the problem with influencers and their promoted content on the internet, they start to promote and advertise whatever gives them money and they do not even take some time to do some basic research on whether they are giving the spotlight to some scam or service which is literal in their jurisdiction...

The fine is incredibly high, but it makes me assume she made a huge amount of money out of her advertising activities for casinos.

[crwth]

Maybe the influencer has some kind of affiliate-marketing-type thing where they share revenue, and that's why she did it. There's no questioning now that it happened.

To be fair, if a casino is legal in another location but is promoted in HK, it becomes illegal because of jurisdiction. I think that's where it falters.

[yahoo62278]

This is the typical behavior of most *shit-fluencers.
They don’t do their homework. They are only are the money and benefiting themselves while ignoring the potential harm on their fans.
Well, this one is going to be a scapegoat to others. Ignorance in the eyes of the law is no excuse.
I hope other shit-fluencers in her category learn from her mistakes if not they will be learning from their own.

This is correct. You are the 1 responsible for knowing the laws in the jurisdiction you are in, not the other way around. They will not show you mercy due to ignorance of the law so that will be a bad defense if she plans to go that route.

This really is a fine line as those who condemn her for her actions may as well condemn everyone else on this platform who wears a sig if a platform scam users. IMO it's really no different when we are making money from advertising and her advertising.

[m2017]

As the title says, an influencer in Hong Kong is charged with promoting offshore online gambling. According to the article, the influencer is facing up to 7 years in prison and a fine of up to $638,000, which is HKD 5 million in their currency. Her lawyers argue that the influencer thought that what she was doing was legal and that the casino's operation was legitimate. Right now she is released on bail after he court appearance.

This is a curious assertion, which doesn't sound entirely credible (who would voluntarily admit to knowingly promoting casinos in a country where casinos are banned), given that, as a Hong Kong resident, she was likely aware of the casino ban (at least she should have at least looked into the legal aspects before she started advertising).

And again, "considering one's actions legal" doesn't exempt one from legal liability.

The article mentioned that the casino in question was advertising itself to "Asian users and positioned itself as a major online gaming brand". They also said that the platform is actively advertising around major sporting events. I kind of wonder what the name of the casino is.

It seems you are asking the wrong question.

A 29-year-old influencer and adult film performer has been charged in Hong Kong after allegedly promoting an offshore online gambling platform through her social media channels, in a case that highlights the city’s strict stance on betting-related activity.

Any normal gambler should be interested in her name (or the names of films with her participation), shouldn't he?

She Thought It Was Legal
Her legal team has argued that she believed the operation was legitimate and claimed the platform did not accept customers based in Hong Kong. They also maintain that she did not knowingly participate in illegal activity.

And this statement should be plausible for an online casino whose doors are "open" to everyone. I doubt the casino would block users from this region, especially considering they specifically promoted their casino to Asian users.

Perhaps bloggers and influencers will now be more careful about what they promote and advertise, as liability and damages could outweigh the expected reward.
 

According to court filings, So was charged with promoting or facilitating bookmaking, an offence carrying a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a fine of up to HKD 5 million ($638,000). She was released on bail following her initial court appearance.

I wonder how much she made from advertising this casino? To compare it with the expected fine (not to mention the risk of imprisonment).

[Hispo]

Maybe the influencer has some kind of affiliate-marketing-type thing where they share revenue, and that's why she did it. There's no questioning now that it happened.

To be fair, if a casino is legal in another location but is promoted in HK, it becomes illegal because of jurisdiction. I think that's where it falters.

Well, she was definitely making money off her adversiting, whether it it was thanks to a direct affiliation with the casino or through some indirect marketing thanks to some agency it is rather irrelevant to the justice of Hong Kong, though.
It was her duty to check whether she was promoting something legal within her jurisdiction, but she did not, assuming she was doing nothing wrong and pocketing a significant amount of money in the process.

Considering the huge amount of money she is supposed to pay as fine as the time in prison, I can only assume the justice in Hong Kong will make an example of her in order to get other influencers in check and to show them what happens when they ignore law and only seek to get as much profit as possible from their online activities.

[fullfitlarry]

As the title says, an influencer in Hong Kong is charged with promoting offshore online gambling. According to the article, the influencer is facing up to 7 years in prison and a fine of up to $638,000, which is HKD 5 million in their currency. Her lawyers argue that the influencer thought that what she was doing was legal and that the casino's operation was legitimate. Right now she is released on bail after he court appearance.

The article mentioned that the casino in question was advertising itself to "Asian users and positioned itself as a major online gaming brand". They also said that the platform is actively advertising around major sporting events. I kind of wonder what the name of the casino is.

For someone who lives in Asia, I would hint that it could be 1xbet?

In any case, the influencer didn't do her due diligence. Maybe she was shown good amount of money and so she take it right away. And HK could be one tough nation in Asia that are really against gambling although Chinese is known to be a big gambler not just in Asia.

So right now she could be regretting her decision to promote that site and I don't think that the casino are going to help her out here.

[jcojci]

That should make influencers aware so they can't only share content without knowing that legal or illegal. If influencers just money-oriented, they will not care about the sources and will shared to their social media.

But I remembered some local influencers only promote something but the content was edited by adding the source. They don't know about the content but the authority is calling them to be checked but I don't know what happens next to them because the news disappeared.

[CryptSafe]

This is the typical behavior of most *shit-fluencers.
They don’t do their homework. They are only are the money and benefiting themselves while ignoring the potential harm on their fans.
Well, this one is going to be a scapegoat to others. Ignorance in the eyes of the law is no excuse.
I hope other shit-fluencers in her category learn from her mistakes if not they will be learning from their own.

This would serve as a lesson to other influencers who fail to do their own research and findings before accepting an offer to promote a project.  I believe the pay was so enticing and mouth watering hence she was quick to accept the offer even without consulting her lawyer to know the laws of the land before promoting the casino.
This is how they promote scams to their community not minding the consequences of their actions and their community get scammed because they trusted their influencer to be genuine and reliable in promoting real projects on their own page. It is high time fans start calling out their influencers who led them to scam project that cost them their funds so that they would seat up and know the kind of projects they advertise on their pages because people are always at risk when they put up those scammy adverts.

[Outhue]

This is the typical behavior of most *shit-fluencers.
They don’t do their homework. They are only are the money and benefiting themselves while ignoring the potential harm on their fans.
Well, this one is going to be a scapegoat to others. Ignorance in the eyes of the law is no excuse.
I hope other shit-fluencers in her category learn from her mistakes if not they will be learning from their own.

I don't want to believe that this person don't know, I think he took the risk for money making, they must have paid him very well to have took that risk, and I am guessing it's part of the investigation and why he was fine that amount of money, if he just started yesterday unknown to him about the laws they won't charge him this much, to me this is another case that I will add to my list of shitty things people do for money.

[cryptoaddictchie]

This is the danger that is associated with following influencers, and promoting an unregulated gambling platforms. While following influencers, you have to do that with caution. Even regulated platforms are also promoted, but their are some countries who does not take it kindly with people or influencers who try to lure bettors into an unregistered or unlicensed platform.

Its a typical whatnot on influencers. Im wondering if all influencers are reading terms and services of each platform they promoting. Usually theres some who got caught like this one and if his a big influencer it still hurt paying $600k worth of penalty.

Im guessing his a big one since he can bail out of prison. Luring many users using your influence is good as long as youre aligned with the gambling site cause if not careful with the legality then say hello to unprecendent fines.

[The Founding Titan]

A 29-year-old influencer and adult film performer

Looks like she's got a big audience on her social media channels judging on her profession. That means, she most likely have legal team on the look out to avoid advertising illegal products/services such as this, and they have failed her.
Don't judge me  , but I looked her up in the internet and it seems like she's an asian p*rn superstar. She does have a lot films and a lot of views. One thing I've also noticed, some asian p*rnsites does have a lot of gambling ads you can see all over the page. So, they're earning a lot of money from advertising gambling sites alone. I bet she can easily pay the fine and learn from there, lol.

Maybe, but a sting is still a sting though I doubt that it will affect that much judging from her particular profession but like you said she should have a legal team that makes sure that she doesn't end up advertising for an illegal service so that makes you wonder whether or not she knew this particular casino was illegal and still decided to advertise for them regardless of maybe her team did not do a good enough background check on the casino, either way this is a lesson that she and maybe others will learn from.

[nara1892]

This is the typical behavior of most *shit-fluencers.
They don’t do their homework. They are only are the money and benefiting themselves while ignoring the potential harm on their fans.
Well, this one is going to be a scapegoat to others. Ignorance in the eyes of the law is no excuse.
I hope other shit-fluencers in her category learn from her mistakes if not they will be learning from their own.

I don't want to believe that this person don't know, I think he took the risk for money making, they must have paid him very well to have took that risk, and I am guessing it's part of the investigation and why he was fine that amount of money, if he just started yesterday unknown to him about the laws they won't charge him this much, to me this is another case that I will add to my list of shitty things people do for money.

Yes, I agree with you, but I'm not sure if the influencer was truly unaware of the consequences. Regarding state regulations, I think they should have known that their country strictly prohibits gambling, without them having to find out first, but their environment could have also indirectly informed them.
On the other hand, one reason the government imposed such a serious penalty on them is because they knew gambling was prohibited, but they still promoted it. As you said, they were willing to do so because of the high pay.

[danherbias07]

We have many of those here in our country during the pandemic. Influencers advertising unknown names and probably not licensed or regulated by the government. Yet, none of them are in prison now, and none have been charged with anything.
I don't believe they are innocent about not knowing that they are promoting an illegal gambling website. They know it, but because there's a lot of money that is being offered to promote it, they still grab it. It's nice to know that some countries are very strict when it comes to this kind of problem because the victim will be those who will use it and not the influencer. Imagine how much money they made by just promoting it and I bet it's a lot. Also, I think this should be a good learning point for influencers that if they are caught doing it, the business they are promoting won't even help them because it's illegal.