Did higgsfield cross the line?

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, Forbes recently published an investigation into the AI video startup Higgsfield. Insane growth: reportedly ~$300M ARR run rate in under a year, massive influencer traction, heavy subscription revenue. But the controversy is where it gets interesting from an entrepreneur perspective.

They were using stock visuals from Envato, adding their watermark, and getting influencers to post them on their behalf. They were also selling “unlimited” AI credit plans that weren’t actually unlimited, then charging people once they hit hidden limits. On top of that, they were allegedly buying bots to boost engagement on pretty much every social post. And when users tried to cancel, a lot of them say they couldn’t get refunds for those plans.

Crazy black hat growth hacking I guess.