Filing a complaint with the FTC?

Given the lack of response from anyone at Brave (specifically in response to emails at ads-payment-issues@brave.com) and the fact that they are literally withholding funds to not just me, but LOTS of other users, it seems that there’s a pretty good case for fraud.

Obviously, I don’t want to go this route. I don’t think any of us do. But what other recourse do we have?

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Don’t be ridiculous. No one is withholding funds from anyone. There’s no fraud involved. The vast majority of Brave devs and support staff are unpaid volunteers. That’s what “open source” is all about. Brave rewards are a gift, not payment for goods or services rendered.

The Brave browser doesn’t exist for the sole purpose of paying people BAT rewards. It is, first and foremost, a browser that protects users’ privacy. The first priority of the devs is to maintain and improve the browser. The Brave Rewards program is just a nice-to-have extra, so any glitches with the Brave Rewards program are dealt with when they have time, as it should be.

Don’t waste your time or that of the legal system with frivolous complaints and lawsuits.

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Brave is not a charity. They sell ads, they’ve received millions in venture capital funding (https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/131241-61#timeline), and they turn a profit (see here: https://coindesk-news.com/2021/02/04/more-than-25-million-monthly-users-record-brave-browser-records/).

They are selling ads based on the premise that users are incentivized to view them in exchange for BAT.

BAT is money. It can be exchanged for other currencies, invested, etc.

Obviously, if they aren’t paying users for viewing ads, they’re committing a type of fraud.

If they are going to ignore support emails (one month and counting in my case, and much longer in other people’s cases), then what other recourse do we have?

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They are selling ads based on the premise that potential customers (of the advertisers, not of Brave) are viewing them. The advertisers couldn’t care less about Brave rewards. There is no guarantee anywhere that users will be paid for viewing ads, therefore, no fraud. No one is entitled to either Brave rewards or support.

Your recourse is to either wait for the very short-staffed Brave support to get to you, or disable Brave rewards.

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“The advertisers couldn’t care less about Brave rewards.”

That can’t be true. The advertisers know that Brave’s users are incentivized to view the ads.

I have waited over a month for Brave support to respond to a support ticket I sent them regarding three months’ worth of missing payments. They have not replied at all. I’d say that’s waiting long enough.

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Knowing about it doesn’t mean it influences their ad buys. Advertisers care only that the ads are displayed to X number of people. They don’t care how or why.

Still, nowhere near legal grounds for either an FTC complaint or a lawsuit. You would be laughed out of court, if it even got that far. Good luck getting a competent lawyer to even take the case.

Again, you are not entitled to either Brave rewards or answers from support. No one is.

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It’s obvious from this page that they promise users payment in return for viewing ads:

If they are failing to pay users for viewing ads – while profiting form the sale of said ads – that is the very definition of fraud.

It may not be intentional, but they have to be responsible for addressing bugs within a reasonable time frame.

Do you work for Brave? If not, what is your incentive here? Why are you defending them for withholding payments that they owe their users? What am I missing here?

“Knowing about it doesn’t mean it influences their ad buys. Advertisers care only that the ads are displayed to X number of people. They don’t care how or why.”

It’s literally part of their sales pitch:

“Partner with Brave by advertising on the first global ad platform built on privacy. Our superior ad matching system guarantees that 100% of your ad spend goes only to engaged users who want to see ads.”

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Who says they do? There is no such law.

No, I don’t work for Brave. I’m a user, just like you. I have dealt with my share of bugs, just like you. I have realistic expectations of the software. You are missing the fact that this is FREE, open source software and your expectations are completely unreasonable.

Again, NO ONE IS WITHHOLDING ANYTHING FROM YOU. NO ONE AT BRAVE OWES YOU ANYTHING.

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Translate that as “people who opted into the Brave Rewards program”. Again, advertisers care only that their ads are displayed to X number of people. They don’t care WHY those people opted in.

“Today, Brave welcomes you to the new Internet. One where your time is valued, your personal data is kept private, and you actually get rewarded for your attention.”

“Brave Ads are enabled by default in Brave Rewards, providing the ability to earn Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) every time you view an ad.”

How is any of this at all ambiguous?

There can be bug. That doesn’t mean, they are not paying. First time, I received my payment yesterday.

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Where is the GUARANTEE??? There is no guarantee there ANYWHERE.

Precisely!!

Even if Brave DID have a legal obligation to provide Brave Rewards, there is still no proof anywhere that it was intentional or that they are grossly negligent. Bugs are bugs. We get a free browser that isn’t selling our personal, private info to every Tom, D1ck, and Harry.

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I have never had any problem with the software that is incredible good. No one is withholding anything. Please look at your account setup or restart your account that is possible to do.
I hope your can resolve your issue, but don’t call this a fraud when many of us have use and receive not just a good product but rewards for use it.
Have a great day!

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As much as I despite how badly Brave is run, Brave didn’t do any of the following

  • given legal guarantees to pay out BAT
  • given legal guarantees to award BAT for every advertisement view
  • promised service guarantees to ensure timely delivery of BAT services (e.g. payouts)
  • promised service guarantees to minimum service uptime (e.g. Rewards system is down)
  • entered into a binding contract to provide any of the above
  • provided false information with the intention to deceive for personal gain

As a result, Brave have not broken any laws, have not defrauded anyone, nor have they broken any terms of service with us.

There is no basis for legal action.

Disclaimer: This does not constitute legal advice, and should not be acted upon as such

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This is the kind of entitled hysteria that hurts Brave, hurts this forum, and pisses off everyone involved.

No one is forced to use Brave.

If you think you’re missing out on free cash you’re entitled to, from the free browser you chose to use, please just use a different browser.

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The vast majority of complaints here are due to users not understanding how Brave Rewards works because they refuse to read and research on their own before posting. How many people have complained about not receiving August rewards when the processing isn’t even finished yet?? Any time a change is made to the display, people freak out because they didn’t read the announcement explaining the change, and they think they lost BAT when they didn’t.

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No, they are really not. I am one who has not received an automatic deposit to Uphold in over four months. I don’t expect to get anything this month either.

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