The passive income influencers
Today, Explained

The passive income influencers

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 20, 202627 min
  • Business & money

They promise you financial freedom with very little work, but these side hustles might just be the new pyramid schemes. This episode was produced by Ariana Aspuru, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. A young woman struggling with budget planning and financial stress. Photo by Witthaya Prasongsin via Getty Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast. <...

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Sentence 7 of 12 · 0:24

According to reporting in Wired, Katie was an affiliate marketer for a fitness MLM called

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has been the subject of a class-action lawsuit saying it scammed its coaches, it's been

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 22%A2 31%B1 23%B2 18%C1 5%
  • 77% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 172 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 109 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Pouring out for Katie Zaccaria, you guys. President Trump's latest press secretary lasted a record-breaking five days on the job. Along the way, we found out that she said she was an attorney, even though she never passed the bar.

0:14

But don't sleep on Zaccaria's actual career as a multi-level marketer. According to reporting in Wired, Katie was an affiliate marketer for a fitness MLM called Beachbody, a company which she herself described to Wired as sort of a pyramid scheme. Beachbody has been the subject of a class-action lawsuit saying it scammed its coaches, it's been

0:34

accused of charging customer credit cards without consent, and it has settled a $3.6 million consumer protection lawsuit in California. But Beachbody is not the subject of today's blame from Fox, nor is Katie Zachariah. We're going to talk about how people like her with big followings on social media compel others to try and build up a side

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