First off, they are asking for your Gemfile, not your .gem. There is a big difference here. There is no source code in a Gemfile. Secondly, they clearly state w

First off, they are asking for your Gemfile, not your .gem. There is a big difference here. There is no source code in a Gemfile. Secondly, they clearly state why this is an indication of popularity-- they are getting real world usage statistics, not download counts. They ask for company info because if a company the size of 80 people uses a gem, it's going to effectively be more popular than a company of size 1. 79 more people are using it. Please stop spreading the FUD.