Posted 8:54 AM by Scoobie Davis

Amway's War on Bloggers
As cult expert Steven Hassan has pointed out, information control is essential to a cult like Amway. Many new Amway recruits have been told by their sponsors not to watch TV, listen to the radio, or surf the Internet (this last component became more difficult when Amway became web-oriented with Quixtar in 1999). With the advent of the Internet, lower level Amway distributors as well as prospective recruits have plenty of critical information about the corporation (my Google bomb helped to make this information more accessible to these people). This is great because accurate, critical information is a bane to mind control groups like Amway.

More recently, there has been a lot of infighting between the company and disgruntled distributors. This has led to these distributors creating blogs such as Quixtar Lost My Cents, Free the Quixtar IBO log, The IBO Rebellion, Free the IBO, Crazy World, Save Yourself Dick DeVos, and many others.

In response to these new waves of criticism, Alticor, the parent company of Amway and Quixtar, has filed a series of lawsuits against many of these critical bloggers. Such lawsuits are known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). They are filed in order to chill public expression by bankrupting the defendants. Bloggers and others concerned about freedom of expression should stand up for these targeted blogs against corporate bullies like Alticor.

Note: This post is cross-posted on my Amway blog.

UPDATE: Crazy Horse has a list of the sued bloggers.
If you want to watch the YouTube videos that Amway/Quixtar finds so threatening, click here. The videos with the Hooded Angry Man are hilarious.