sweat shops they are
I'm not immune to the argument that it's better than nothing, but damn, it's so close to nothing, and yet still people are that desperate.
I think Americans tend to have tunnel vision about the necessity for money in an economy. In Bangladesh a large part of the economy must be based on barter, and so maybe people resorting to click farms really are just picking up the cash to get things only cash can buy. Maybe medicine and food before smokes and beer, but people can manage with very little money.
But "manage" isn't exactly the good life. This story grates on my nerves for the contrast between the wealth to pay people to help cheat on a popularity contest on the one hand, and the abject misery of the people so desparate they'll do it.