Sure, Brave's PR approach seems reasonable: act like you're confused and listening, but don't respond to anything resembling criticism.

But acting dumb and carrying on is an inflammatory action, when your actions are ethically bankrupt -- an inflamed response is warranted and quite reasonable in this situation.

I disagree completely. So far, both here and on Twitter, the core complaint, that donations are solicited in the name of people who have no relationship with Brave, and from whom Brave has no consent, has been completely ignored.

The fact is the original complainant, Tom Scott, and many others, find that practice abhorrent, and the response so far has been deflection or vague promises that the Brave team want to help content creators, whether they want the "help" or not.