The Movement Review – Michael Pousti’s Empowr Reboot?
You’re probably here because someone invited you to join The Movement where you can earn money and get everything you want fast and virtually for free!
Well, at least that’s what the founder, Michael “Mike” Pousti claims:
The Movement was brought to our attention by Jan in his comment in our College Power review.
The Movement is basically the “Upgrade” of College Power, and it was previously known as Empowr, and before that, it came to be as FanBox. What a long story, right?
Truth be told, Empowr and FanBox were scams where many people have wasted their time and efforts for nothing. Some of them even lost money in the process!
If you don’t wish to waste your time on scams like these, and you want to legitimately learn how to earn money online, then I recommend that you check this out instead.
Now, in this review, we will discuss if The Movement can actually live to its promises, or is it merely another scam social networking platform.
Let’s dive in.
Review Summary
Website: movement.college
Founder: Michael Pousti
Price to Join Opportunity: Free
Recommended? No. The Movement is simply a reboot of its previous versions (proofs below) and it’s likely just a waste of your time. So, you may want to check this out instead, or continue reading below and decide for yourself.
Overall Business Opportunity Rating: 1.5 / 5 Stars
Quick Summary: The idea behind The Movement is to become just like any other social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but with additional bells and whistles.
It supposedly have its own marketplace (like Amazon or eBay), judicial system, political system, a built-in banking system, transportation service (like Uber and Lyft), and even its own currency. A democratic economy of its own, as Mike often say.
On paper, it really does seems like you can make money with The Movement by simply joining (for free) and doing the things you normally do on social networks e.g., posting contents on your wall, sharing posts, liking, commenting, etc. You can also buy and sell things, share (rent) personal belongings, or provide services.
However, Micheal Pousti and his cohorts designed it so that the main driving force for people to join The Movement is to make money online fast and easy, rather than to connect with others. But through my experience, making money online is not as easy as ABC.
You will need to acquire online business training, knowledge and skills to do so. And quite frankly, The Movement isn’t something new (or different) compared to its predecessors (FanBox, Empowr and College Power).
But before we go any further, I’d like to apologize if I’m giving off such a negative vibe. And if this is your first time hearing about Michael Pousti and of his “groundbreaking” social media platforms…
You’ll understand where I’m coming from by reading the entirely of The Movement review below.
Quit Your Job And Start Your Online Business? Sounds Awesome, But…
What is The Movement all about?
The Movement (sometimes referred as Everything Fast & Free) is supposedly a social networking platform that have its own democratic economy.
In The Movement, users (aka citizens) supposedly can make money online, eradicate poverty and even help solve the climate crisis.
Who is the founder?
While The Movement is relatively new and there’s not a lot of information about it yet (during this review), we know that the founder of this platform is Michael Pousti aka Mike Pousti. Mike is widely known by many people from the infamous Empowr.
And as I briefly mentioned at the start of this review, Empowr was also known as FanBox and College Power.
All of which are pitched exactly the same – a social network platform aiming to have its own democratic economy to counter poverty, help climate crisis and allow anyone to make money online fast and easy.
The Movement is Mike’s latest version these democratic social platforms and just like College Power, The Movement seems to target college students.
College Power was supposed to officially launched way back in August 5, 2019, but it never happened. And now, here’s Mike again pitching a new platform to launch soon called The Movement…
How does it work?
As a user, you can earn money from The Movement by simply joining and using the platform. You can earn by posting contents, sharing posts, liking, or commenting.
Mike didn’t explained how doing these things can earn you money in The Movement but in the former versions of this platform, he claimed that you’re getting paid from advertisements.
You can also earn by sharing (renting) your unused belongings to those who needed them in The Movement marketplace:
Now, this one makes sense because people will naturally pay for renting stuffs. And if you provide a means to deliver items, you will get paid for your services as well.
Moreover, you will also be able to generate an income with The Movement by convincing business owners to signup as “Merchants” where they will give products and services discounts to college students.
In return, The Movement will offer some free advertisement services for the Merchants’ businesses in the platform. Merchants will also have an option to pay for additional advertising privileges, which is where your commission will probably be taken.
But Mike didn’t clearly explained this topic so we can assume that if Merchants opt for free advertising (in exchange for student discounts), you might not earn commissions.
There are also other positions within the platform like Guides, Judges, Managers, and Leadership positions, which is why you may find some job listing about The Movement hiring for staff.
You will then be assigned to handle users and students transactions within your area after completing some training. You will earn by:
- Merchant activation bonus – You get paid for each store, restaurant or businesses activated by the users under you
- Transaction revenue – You get a cut of every purchase students make with your merchants
- Service revenue – You get a cut of all promotional services (advertisements) purchased by your merchants
What is The Movement’s currency?
The Movement have its own cryptocurrency (just like all the previous versions did) which you can use to purchase and rent items on its marketplace. So technically, you won’t actually be getting things for free as advertised.
You will need to have The Movement’s cryptocurrency to purchase or rent things in the marketplace, and you can do that by depositing money or earning revenues from the options above.
As of now, the said cryptocurrency has a value of $0.45 and a projected value of $200 by 2028 (as you can see in the image below).
However, Mike didn’t provide any solid proof that The Movements cryptocurrency indeed has the following current value so take it with a grain of salt.
I brought this topic because as a citizen, you have the option to convert 20-30% of your earnings into The Movement’s cryptocurrency at its current price.
Now, I don’t want to be cynical here but I can’t stop thinking that this is a tactic to prevent users from cashing out as much of their earnings.
And while The Movement and Mike didn’t mention anything about the cashout process yet…
If we look at the history, FanBox, Empowr and College Power all have a 90-day maturation period before you can cashout your earnings.
So it’s safe to assume that it might be the same here. And speaking of history repeating itself…
Is The Movement actually Empowr Reboot?
Short answer is, yes!
Aside from the obvious similarities that we discussed above, here’s the video of what The Movement is about:
Now here’s an old video about Empowr:
They are exactly the same promotional videos except the one was used by Empowr in 2018 and the other is by The Movement in 2020.
And on The Movement’s website, you can see a quote that says:
Now interestingly, this is also the same quote that appears in the Empowr white paper…
And if that isn’t enough, well you can visit update.empowr.com and you’ll see this announcement:
The company basically explained why they now have to shut down the old Empowr website to migrate to the new version. And when you click on the links for the new platform to be launched soon, it redirects to The Movement sales videos.
The Movement indeed is Empowr reboot and the latter is a big fat scam! But what’s even more concerning is that they didn’t mention anything about FanBox and College Power, which begs the question…
What happened to the previous users and citizens who spend months and years in those platforms? Where are they now?
Well, I know many of them who shared their real-life experiences below. And by the way, I too, was a previous user of FanBox and Empowr.
My Concerns about The Movement
1. Tons of negative experiences from previous users
There have been tons and tons of negative reviews from previous users and “citizens” of FanBox, Empowr and College Power all over the world.
Their biggest concern is not getting paid and not being able to cashout their earnings.
Others complained about losing money and being charged for fees against their will…
While others have been fooled to believing that they are actually getting a job with the company when in fact, they are merely being used to recruit more people into joining.
There are a lot more of these negative user experiences from people who joined Michel Pousti’s previous platforms and you can find them here, here and here (just scroll down to the comment sections of the each reviews).
Now after knowing all these negative experiences from previous users, aren’t you worried that you’ll share the same faith when you invest your time, effort, and hopes in The Movement?
2. The Movement marketplace dilemma
If you would ask me if I would sell, buy or rent anything on this platform, I would definitely not. The reason is I don’t feel safe and in case of a dispute, there is no guarantee that matters will be resolved properly.
In The Movement, marketplace transactions disputes will be handled by Guides and Judges.
However, we don’t know if these Guides and Judges are professionally trained to handle disputes legally and peacefully. If I’m not mistaken, they are merely other users or citizens of the platform who completes some “special training.”
But what training did they undergo to make them eligible to handle matters of disputes, and what guarantee do I get that disputes will be settled in a just way?
But like everything in The Movement, this is not a new thing. In fact, this is the same concern I voiced out in our Empowr review under the “Buying and Selling on Empowr” section.
Another way The Movement supposedly guarantees the safety of merchant trades is by holding someone’s earnings as collateral.
For example, if you rent your power drill like the example in the video above (How The Movement works), whoever is in possession of your item have some of their earnings frozen until they deliver their service or the drill is returned to you.
But my question is, how about those new users who have no earnings yet? Does it mean that they can’t offer their services?
3. Flawed social network concept
The idea is admirable and Mike’s mission of helping eradicate poverty and climate crisis (if it is indeed genuine) can be considered noble.
However, there is a fundamental flaw in how he and his team designed The Movement which is why all of its previous versions didn’t worked all these time.
Social networks supposedly gives value to their users by allowing them to strengthen their bonds with family and friends, and to establish genuine connection with other people.
When you post a photo or video in a social network like Facebook or Twitter, and your family or friends likes or shares it (and vice versa), this interaction improves your relationship with them.
Your motivation is simply to connect to others and this is why every day, we log in to our social media accounts to connect and get an update of whats happening with the people we care in our lives.
But when the motivation in joining a social network is making money, it creates an opposite effect. Anyone will probably post anything for the sake of earning money. Furthermore, its likely that the comments, likes and reactions are not really genuine because they are only thinking about making money as well.
4. A reboot of Pousti’s older scams
As all the evidence above suggests, The Movement is just a reboot of Mike Pousti’s older scams and it isn’t any different.
Therefore, its safe to assume that all the bad experiences of the people who joined the previous versions of this platform is likely what awaits for the people who will join The Movement.
I know this are heavy accusations in our part but all of which are backed by facts and real experiences. It’s weird to think the Mike Pousti is now promoting The Movement when he didn’t even clearly address the issues with FanBox, Empowr and College Power.
Now, if you want to share your thoughts about these matters too, you can leave a comment below.
Final Thoughts
While the concept behind The Movement is promising, there has got to be a reason why it didn’t work the first time (FanBox), the second time (Empowr), and the third time (College Power) before.
And based on the facts we shared above, it’s almost certain that The Movement would end up the same way.
Now, I understand that persistence is one key to success. But if an idea has been proven not to work three times already, then I think joining exactly the same thing on its fourth launching is a risk not worth taking.
But of course, this is my own opinion and you are welcome to share yours too in the comment sections below.
And in case you’ve realized that The Movement is not the income opportunity you want to get involved with, but you are serious about finding ways to make money online…
Then I highly recommend that you check out this program.
It is the same program that turned me from a nobody to somebody online, and it allowed me to earn a full-time income from home.
Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read our The Movement review. We sincerely hope that this provided you with enough information so you can make an educated decision.
And if you find this article helpful, kindly share it with other people.
Until here and once again, for any questions and concerns regarding this topic, feel free to leave a comment below.
Your pal,
Jack
I was one of The Movements representatives. Mike seems like a very passionate person, and, if genuine, indeed a very noble effort to eradicate poverty. Everything seemed to be going well for the first few months, and we were always asked to come up with suggestions and ideas for improvement. After a while, a few former employees/members from Empowr reached out to me via LinkedIn, sharing their experiences and red flags to look out for. So I dug deep in Pousti’s history. REALLY deep, all the way back to the dot com boom. Needless to say, I held out hope that as a group we could push the platform into a reality. So being one of the “top producers” during my time with the Movement (& a background in market research), myself and other made various suggestions for improvements and better sales tactics; needless to say we were always rejected in one form or another, without fulling taking into consideration what we were saying to break through the current barriers we were faced with. I messaged him privately to ask for some better guidance, support towards those of us who were working tirelessly on the project, & more definitive answers to some concerning flags I had found via his long history. I was responded to in a negative manner almost immediately, & he kept beating around the bush with his answers trying to avoid certain topics. At this point I realized that the former staff members who contacted me, were 100% right in stating that if I saw these same characteristics, to recognize that he, nor the platform, have changed. He is not willing to grow or let others “in”, in the manner that would be necessary to launch a successful platform. At that time I fully stepped away from the company, as did many others when we realized what was going on.
Several yellow flags during their presentation, but Mike is very slick. Now as I read how this is at least his fourth attempt at this scheme, I can see why he has it down to such a slick process and setup in general. Thanks to warnings from this website and others, I bailed before it got too bad. Unfortunately, I had already given them my CC number (but just the first of several times they said they needed it).
Before I committed to anything, approved any charges, or made any requests, I just said I had to go suddenly and ended the call. Within minutes, they had put four charges on my card, totaling $1063. I tried to stop them with my CC company and they said they were going to close my account and issue a new card, with a new number.
I wrote to The Movement several times (text and emails) and said I didn’t authorize this and there were to refund the charges. To their credit, they did do so, but I think it was because I had already blocked them at the card level and they feared I would do much worse if they didn’t comply.
The only websites I could find that said it wasn’t a scam were sites they owned.
I was a TAS and I stopped a couple of months after. I liked the idea of it. Only to find out after leaving things that were happening behind the scenes and genuine people who worked there who really did want to change the world and eradicate poverty had no idea of Mike and his ways.
This sounds like Pousti’s original offering College Club – a site that went bust during the dot.com boom and died before going IPO.
I applied blindly for a Talent Acquisition role and was offered the job after a short video interview. I was in shock and asked if he could send me an email before I accepted. Never heard from him again. Total scam. Horrible company.