FTC Cracks Down on Bloggers Who Sway for Paid Endorsements
FTC Cracks Down on Bloggers Who Sway for Paid Endorsements
Posted 10/05/2009 at 5:34pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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Bloggers that endorse products are about to be under a lot more scrutiny. The FTC today has issued new rules requiring the disclosure of financial ties between bloggers, and products/services they review. These changes are the first in nearly 30 years to redefine the relationship between reviewers and companies.
The so called “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”, say that any material connections must be fully disclosed by the blogger. This could include payments in cash or free products. The FTC made it clear that this was not a blanket decree and that possible infractions would be handled on a case by case basis.
The new rules set out a possible penalty of $11,000 per violation if a blogger should fail to disclose these financial relationships. Though, the FTC didn’t lay out specifics on how bloggers should disclose these connections. The rules take effect December 1st.
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quantumnerd
October 07, 2009 at 7:17am
I live in canada, so the gub'mint 4chan counterparts that hide under bridges and eat little left wing children and catapult the republican ones can't reach me!
And if they do, I have a PSU flail- no casing, and yes it's plugged in :D
zepontiff
October 05, 2009 at 8:36pm
This sounds good in theory but seems a little unclear to me. Doesn't say how they are supposed to disclose? Who is the FTC anyway? Does my constitution give them any authority to do this? I'd like to see how a court case on this plays out.
Caboose
October 06, 2009 at 9:39am
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act. Its principal mission is the promotion of "consumer protection" and the elimination and prevention of what regulators perceive to be harmfully "anti-competitive" business practices, such as coercive monopoly. (From Wikipedia Article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Trade_Commission ).
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
comptech08
October 05, 2009 at 7:18pm
its a dang blog and a blogger shoud be able to endorse whatever he wants and shouldn't have to publicy show his agreements.
Are we getting closer to a communist nation everyday? :(
aviaggio
October 06, 2009 at 11:32am
Um, no. People need to know the validity of one's opinion in reviewing a product or service, regardless if it's a blog, newspaper, magazine, TV or some other medium (which btw, they need to do in all other media). If someone is being compensated for providing a favoriable review for a product this needs to be fully disclosed. End of story.
The big issue I have with this new regulation is that it doesn't apply to third party compensation, which is stupid. For example, if Dell gives me a laptop in exchange for a good review, then I would need to disclose this. But if Newegg gives me a Dell laptop in exchange for a good review of a Dell product without pitching Newegg directly, I don't need to disclose that. Well that's DUMB.
And of course there's the matter of actually enforcing the rule. How exactly are they going to do that? What would constitute a suspicous blog, one that would cause them to think the writer was being compensated?
dreamsburnred
October 05, 2009 at 6:12pm
To bad I live up north ;)
Hoster of http://dreamburnred.blogspot.com
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