If someone that has some high reputation/is your friend/etc, explicitely asks you to do something, it definitely is manipulation.
A friend asking for something is called being a friend. A friend asking for something unreasonable is a bit of an asshole but probably still a friend. Intent matters. If one doesn't leverage/abuse their high reputation / friendship / etc I don't see how you can call that manipulative. Otherwise someone like cryptohunter who has no reputation or friends would be a shining example of non-manipulativeness
