Unauthorized and non-US outlets, pretending to be legitimate platforms, make desired changes to petitions and either unreasonably reject or ignore them. This problem discredits and invalidates the petition, interfering with its progress, goals, and achievements. The outlets abuse the petition's privacy and create articles with backlinks that mislead others into thinking the petition has been accepted when it has not. They do this to advance their plans and purposes after the petition gains 7.5K and over signatures.

Consequences of this subcategory:

• Unauthorized outlets may suddenly notice, monitor, and seize control of petitions that have gained 7.5K signatures.
• Petitioners cannot see the behavior of these outlets, and hours later, the outlets change the petition's content without permission, either before or after the decision-maker responds.
• The outlets are unaffiliated and not connected to all decision-makers.
• The phrase "has significantly changed" in "Report a policy violation" is used to mislead others.
• Using hashtags on social media after reaching the 7.5K target is unsafe, as it may trigger unauthorized outlets to interfere with the petition.
• Petitioners must remain vigilant and cautious to protect their desired changes from manipulative tactics employed by unverified and non-US outlets.
• These outlets may manipulate the petition's content illegitimately and twist it into something misleading.
• This subcategory threatens the integrity of petitions and prevents them from achieving their intended goals.

Importance of following Change.org's community guidelines:

To prevent misleading others and causing harm, petitioners must always adhere to Change.org's community guidelines.

Observation:

Official and major news outlets do not engage in the unlawful behavior described in this subcategory.

Please don't make disruptive comments, as we must understand how this subcategory poses risks and jeopardizes our petition.