Depending on your age and where you live, multilevel marketing schemes (also known as MLMs) might be ubiquitous in your life. Or you might be thinking: Wait, those still exist? They do exist, although companies get away with not being pyramid schemes largely thanks to legal technicalities. Some of the older brands in the MLM game include companies like Amway and Tupperware (yes, really), and those fancy knives people used to sell at parties out of their living rooms (Cutco). But between the pandemic and social media, MLMs have gotten a fresh hayday—and that’s fundamentally dangerous for absolutely everyone involved. Picture this: You log onto your Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or even YouTube. You see a person—probably a woman, white, young—who is talking about making an income working from home. Specifically, from their phone. Specifically, in small pockets of time. They may even call themselves a stay-at-home mom and feature their little ones in the background of videos and photos where they’re talking about this miraculous essential oil, or a protein shake, or leggings, or a deep conditioner. Maybe she really does love the product—and maybe she’s tumbling into debt, chasing a dream to rise to the top of a company that is suspiciously pyramid-shaped. Read more