HN and Reddit's ranking systems are based on the assumption that the people voting are the ones who are actual genuine readers of the site. And thus for a comp

HN and Reddit's ranking systems are based on the assumption that the people voting are the ones who are actual genuine readers of the site. And thus for a company to organize a campaign of down votes (which seems the only way to exercise control over such social media) would, I assume, be a violation of the ToS. Violating the ToS is a violation of the right to access-- specifically, it is "unlawful access", and while I doubt you could get a prosecutor to press charges, it feels to me that this crosses the line.