Reddit is abuzz with an allegation that Amex or American
Reddit is abuzz with an allegation that Amex or American Express recently backed and “promoted” a tweet that raises questions about the crypto industry’s energy efficiency. The allegations have been afloat since Reddit user Alexsayzz opened a forum thread on 16th October and has already gained some popularity.
The concerned tweet was made by the account of “Tic Toc by Bloomberg”, which is the Twitter network of reputed crypto news outlet is Bloomberg. The thread carries a screenshot of the post which says “promoted by American Express” right below the contents of the tweet that reads : “The cryptocurrency industry is using more energy than all the world’s electric vehicles,researchers say”. The post carries a visual that reasserts its caption and mentions that it has sourced from research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The tweet was made on 11th October and went on to receive 437 comments and 4100 upvotes as checked last at press time.
The tweet looks as though it was a promoted one and has already been viewed by over 42000 people. The tweet’s graphic is a reiteration of the idea that cryptocurrencies drain a lot of energy resources as they are mined. This argument is often posited to point out the flip sides of crypto. The supposed source article is called “Crypto’s Hidden Costs” and focuses on how the mining of Bitcoin (BTC) requires a controversially high amount of energy. It also includes a couple of interviews of crypto experts WHOLESOME argue it out as to whether it would be of any use to consider clean energy for cryptocurrency mining.
The contributors to the Reddit thread have lashed out strongly against Amex, a key card payments company, for promoting something that’s being seen as “propaganda”. Many believe Amex, who is facing direct and stiff competition from the crypto market might have had a strong business motivation to give fuel to the fire every time any content questions the credibility or efficiency of crypto.
Although the screenshot from the Reddit post shows the tweet was promoted by American Express, the present Twitter post does not show any such qualification. However, another news outlet recently reported having received private correspondence from an anonymous source who confirmed that the tweet had been promoted by an unconfirmed entity for a brief period.
If we try to use the Twitter tool for retrieving and accessing tweets promoted by certain accounts, the concerned post does not show up upon searching for either TicToc or alleged sponsor Amex’s names. Although the search has led us nowhere, there’s a strong chance the Twitter search tool is not yielding all the results or that the tweet had been taken before being reposted separately, without the promotion. At the same time, it remains equally likely that the Reddit thread carries a false, doctored image to suppress competition from the cards payment giant.