The creator is getting free meals and the restaurants are getting some exposure. Sure.
But what about the average user. They post a picture of their night out at a club in NYC. Some automated bot comes along and follows them because the venue is tagged marking that they live nearby.
They’re sitting at work and get a notification that they’ve been followed. ::dopamine hit:: They pick up their phone, distracting them and check the account. Oh cool! This account has 20k followers and only follows 400 people, I must be special. ::dopamine hit::
This account has co-opted their attention via a push notification.
They follow the account back and get their feed filled with automated posts even though they’re under the impression it’s a curated account. They’re being subtly manipulated into looking at empty content, maybe even going to some of the restaurants, under the guise of genuine recommendations when it’s purely spam and noise.
Is this a travesty? Probably not. Am I being dramatic? Almost certainly. But it kind of sucks and can get out of control quickly. I know people who get thousands of push notifications each day, and who’s feeds are filled with doom scrolling-friendly garbage. It’s not healthy.