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Odious though PR can be, in the USA it falls squarely under a unique legal doctrine known as “freedom of speech”, a privilege afforded even to commercial entities.

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This doesnt violate OPs idea. You are free to say whatever you want, you just have to disclose it.

> to a certain extent it astounds me that it's even legal.

I prick up my ears when people start to talk about criminalizing speech.

Criminalizing PR is not criminalizing speech,it is criminalizing a financial transaction. It does not mean that PR firms cannot say some things, just that they cannot be paid for it.

"Criminalizing PR" is obviously criminalizing speech. It means you cannot post a comment on HN/reddit as a cloudflare CTO, cannot link to your commercial website on about section, etc.

And if only PR firms are regulated/criminalized, FB or whatever can still operate their own PR team. Then what is the point of the law?

How do you feel about disclosure rules similar to those regulating stock analysts?

Except when they are manipulating the market or defaming someone.

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