When The FTC Regulates Honesty in Social Media
It started earlier this year when the FTC announced it was considering passing regulations that bloggers and anyone taking cash to write about products declare they’ve been paid to do so. The vote passed 4-0 yesterday and will take effect Dec 1st; this much we all know.
Here’s what is interesting;
1. Enforcement & Monitoring Challenge: There’s no clear definition of how this will/can be enforced. Through complaints by consumers/businesses? Will they use a monitoring tool? When you think that roughly 150,000 new blog entries are posted each day, that’s about 54,750,000 blog entries a year, give or take a few hundred thousand. The FTC says they’re more likely to go after the advertiser and not the blogger. Not sure how much that will help in enforcement.
2. The Oxymoron of Disclosure: Many bloggers and Social Media practitioners have written many articles about how it’s important to declare if you’re writing posts on behalf of a client or representing a company. Some do, many don’t. In some cases these deceptive bloggers will be “outed” and suffer the consequences. But this is a “social rule” evolved as a general online conduct, it is not a government sanctioned rule. Many get away with it.
3. International Effect: Canadians and Americans share many daily communications. Similarities in language, geographical closeness and almost total trade transparency through NAFTA. We buy and sell and have personal relationships…will the FTC work with the Canadian government to develop similar rules in Canada? Many US products are sold in Canada and vice versa. Take Tim Horton’s coffee; if they pay a Canadian blogger to blog about a new offering that is also available in the U.S. but is undeclared, how will the FTC prosecute Tim Horton’s in Canada for the impact in the USA?
This ruling is one I agree with. I’ve personally seen the dangers of bloggers and eBay sellers promoting HIV tests and medications that are not FDA or Health Canada approved. This produces disastrous results for the deceived consumer who may use such faulty products. The FDA has some recourse, but monitoring is a huge issue. Then there’s the trust issue, but that’s another posting.
What do you think of the FTC ruling?
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