Is working on a website that offers profit from viewing advertisements, which has been paying its members since 2008, and in which forbidden advertisements (music and gambling) are avoided, and membership is free, with a system for renting other members to click on permissible advertisements and receive a commission from them, considered unlawful?
Since the subscription is free and the user's choice of what advertisements to browse is permissible, provided the transaction is free from deceit and fraud on the part of the advertisers. However, if the company deceives advertisers by making them believe that the number of users browsing their ads is large, when in reality it is small, then this is forbidden deceit and fraud, and it is not permissible to participate in it or assist in it, due to His Almighty's saying: "And do not cooperate in sin and aggression" and "Do not consume your property among yourselves in falsehood." Renting out some users for a known fee falls under this forbidden deception if it is a genuine rental.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 154498
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy