A federal judge in Austin ruled that Elon Musk must face a lawsuit from an Arizona voter alleging that his $1 million-a-day “giveaway” tied to a petition was misleading, resembling a lottery, and involved deceptive data harvesting.
A federal judge in Austin, Texas, has ruled that Elon Musk must face a lawsuit brought by Arizona voter Jacqueline McAferty, who claims she was misled by his “$1 million-a-day” petition campaign into believing she might win a lottery-style prize. The lawsuit alleges that Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, improperly induced her to sign by promising chances of winning while collecting personal information from signers .
McAferty argues that the campaign, run in seven battleground states during the 2024 election cycle, presented a false impression of randomness. She submitted her name, address, email, and phone number under the belief that winners would be chosen by chance . Instead, she alleges the recipients were selected to serve as spokespeople and were not chosen at random .
Musk’s defense contends that the monetary award was a form of compensation for spokesperson roles—not a prize—undermining the claim of a lottery . Nevertheless, Judge Robert Pitman found that it was plausible voters reasonably thought they were entering a lottery, based on promotional language used .