I'm not sure what the purpose of the article is. It mentions a bunch of companies I've never heard of and has maps apparently of which states people search for

I'm not sure what the purpose of the article is. It mentions a bunch of companies I've never heard of and has maps apparently of which states people search for their company name on Google, each year from 2008 to 2018. I suppose they are showing growth of interest in each company name. But there's not much commentary in the article. Just maps and a paragraph description of what the company is selling and a brief history. The first on the list claims is an oil and gas company popular in Texas that somehow sells oil and gas using a multi-level marketing scheme?!? Whaaaat? The article doesn't even explain how that works or what they are really selling. Do random independent distributors buy gas tanker trucks and make deliveries to farm houses then try to recruit the farmer to sell to his neighbors? They could have tried to explain what this company is about. But instead it's just these maps and cryptic descriptions. Another one says a MLM company sold leggings that became popular, then lowered in quality, which resulted in lawsuits. But no mention of lawsuits about what. Not sure the article is useful or the title "epidemic" is justified. There probably is a MLM epidemic, but the article doesn't really support that. Just lists some random companies with spartan facts and some maps derived from Google search data.