Especially the smaller market cap coins. But even big coins like XRP, ADA etc I can almost gurantee you that they are paying for shills.
Don't beleive everything you see in Youtube and Reddit. ADA to $10 eoy
Theta to $1000 and all of this shit.
Youtubers get 30K for 1 video to talk about the coin
I think shilling is a part of the crypto lifeline. It is just a kind of aggressive marketing strategy that uses famous personalities to promote a particular coin/token like Elon Musk for example, and it is very effective in some instances. IMO, I think there's nothing wrong with that strategy because I believe investors are already knowledgeable enough to choose what is the best cryptocurrency to invest in, base on their own judgment.