Bloggers to be Fined for Not Disclosing Payments
The FTC has updated its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising for the first time since 1980. One of the changes: a requirement that “bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”
“Certainly, it seems like this is an update that’s time has come. While most well-run social media programs already include appropriate disclosure, there’s still no shortage of unscrupulous marketers using deceptive practices to sell products” says Mashable today.
But this applies to all bloggers, including anyone who might make an innocent mistake and post a sponsored review without disclosing that they were compensated. I can think of countless “small” bloggers who are not versed in social media and do not follow this type of news, who might publish a sponsored review without realizing that they should disclose anything.
Which is why I have mixed feelings about this new rule. On the one hand, it is indeed long overdue and there’s absolutely no reason why bloggers should not be required to disclose relationships with sponsors just as traditional media is required to.
On the other hand, unlike traditional media, blogging is accessible to anyone – but the rules of blogging are not necessarily found by brand new bloggers who could make honest, costly mistakes. Will the FTC go after a small blogger who published a soap review and received a $10-worth box of soaps in return? The new guidelines do say that “The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement,” so I’m guessing the soap review will not be fined $11,000.
Barbara Swafford recently said that bloggers can be seen as experts and thus have a responsibility to their readers to disclose the fact that they are not necessarily experts. I generally agree, but I do have to wonder if bloggers are not receiving a whole lot of responsibilities with very little training, and for most – with very little reward.
Update: in an extremely funny post, Robert Cringely of InfoWorld makes fun of the hopelessly unenforceable new rules, pointing out that “According to IDG News, the FTC says the guidelines are mainly targeting advertisers; bloggers themselves are unlikely to get fined, unless they continue to post bogus paid reviews after the FTC has scolded them for it.”
Just in case, he then proceeds to list all the free items he has received throughout his career, including the 1,237 boiled shrimp (with 157 ounces of cocktail sauce) he has consumed at various press functions, adding “I would gladly give them all back if I could.”
Cringely predicts that “In six months the Net will melt down after being overwhelmed by the volume of disclosures that are required.” Having just added disclosure paragraphs to my various social media accounts, I tend to agree.
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Mrs. Micah responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 9:48 am →
I’ve seen so much sponsored content online that I feel like this is a good thing. As a blogger myself, I’m pretty good at spotting such content, but I know that there are a lot of people who think that my blog post about a company sucking means that I’m a representative of that company or leave their credit card numbers on other blogger’s posts.
It’d be too harsh to say that internet users are dumb, but many have been left to figure out things for themselves and aren’t prepared to make these evaluations. Especially the ones who seem to read very quickly. Some of these people would also miss the sponsored notice, but it’s a start.
John Hoff - WP Blog Host responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 9:54 am →
Hi Vered. I knew something like this would be coming soon. The problem here like you said is that many bloggers will never be aware of this fact.
I think a good solution might be to somehow get all the developers of blogging software on board and perhaps create a “notice” for bloggers. Maybe for each new install of programs like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Blogspot (new opened accounts) could display a “Must Read Before Blogging” note which people must check off before being granted access to their Dashboards.
Feel like heading that up? LOL
Cheryl Pope responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 11:14 am →
I’m new to blogging but I knew this would happen. I don’t have a problem disclosing information. We’ll see what happens.
Mark responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 11:42 am →
As it evolves so do the laws…..thanks!
Barbara Swafford responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 12:32 pm →
Hi Vered,
I find as time passes, I’m learning there’s more and more us bloggers need to take into consideration and it’s not just typing up our thoughts and hitting “publish” anymore.
With regard to reporting we are getting “compensated” for a product review, I think is actually a good thing. It lets the reader (of the review) know the review could possibly be a little bit biased and thus the reader might want to continue to do more research, thus becoming a more informed consumer. On the other hand, I wonder if the new ruling is “from this day forward”, or do bloggers have to go back to all of the reviews they did and update them (if they received any type of compensation).
Thank you for linking to my post, Vered. I do agree with what you’ve said. Bloggers have little or no training prior to publishing their work online. With so many people believing what they read online to be true, John’s idea of requiring a bloggers to read and sign off on a “disclaimer” of some sort, isn’t a bad idea.
Dr. J responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 1:09 pm →
This came up within our site also. I don’t think it will have much of an impact with us, as our connections are minimal, and payments are non-existent. If there is a problem, the boss says to just write a review saying the product is no good
Starrlife responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 1:21 pm →
I’m really interested to see how and who is going to police such a law. I don’t think it’s bad in itself but it kind of reminds me of taxing waiter’s tips, not easy to quantify and not usually worth chasing. Thanks for the info tho.
Tina Kubala responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 2:01 pm →
Am I the only one who thinks this is a hugely bad idea?
For what little I make blogging, I now have to fear breaking a federal law?
MomGrind responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 2:13 pm →
Thank you everyone for your comments.
John, I do like your idea but am a little too busy right now to start such a campaign.
Tina, you sum it up beautifully for so many bloggers: “For what little I make blogging, I now have to fear breaking a federal law?”
Hayden Tompkins responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 2:31 pm →
I wish they would have made a distinction between a blogger who receives compensation up front (in essence, paying for the article) and bloggers who write something about a product they love who are compensated afterward (and with no intention of financial gain or reward).
Carla responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 4:10 pm →
So am I correct to assume that any product or service that I received to use and review would also count as a “payment” that I would need to disclose – even though I wasnt technically paid to write the review?
Every review I have written was 100% unpaid and all reviews except for one was with product and services that I paid for myself.
Vered, thank you for brining this to our attention!
Dominique responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 5:36 pm →
It’s really scary to have such a law enforced. So how are they going to police it out of USA?
Tracy responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 6:01 pm →
I think disclosing is the ethical choice, but I do wonder and worry how they will carry enforce this. If the goal is to protect US consumers, what about all the bloggers and site owners in countries outside the US? I’m not worried about an unfair advantage really, because I don’t think disclosure is a handicap if you are providing quality content but I do wonder if more effort should be made to educate consumers?
This is the cynical side of me, but part of me worries that readers/bloggers with a grudge with be reporting each other left and right.
Michelle @ Find Your Balance responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 6:34 pm →
Perhaps companies will have to be more specific when they pay a blogger to promote their product. There should be certain language that has to be included in order to protect the blogger. Companies, with marketing professionals, need to know this. Individuals with small blogs should not be at fault because like you said it’s a medium where ANYONE can participate with zero training. Yikes – sticky situation!
Cath Lawson responds:
Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 7:15 pm →
Hi Vered – this is scary. What about folk who link to affiliate products within articles, will they be treated the same as the paid reviewer? I wonder if a disclosure page saying you get paid for referring folk to affiliate products is ok – or do they expect you to put that on every post?
Dot responds:
Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 6:52 am →
Honesty is the best policy, they say. I suspect that, as with most laws, there will be some leeway in who is given the “maximum sentence.” I suspect beginning bloggers may get off with a warning. As with everything in else, the responsibility for learning what’s legal and what’s not lies with the individual citizen. I’ve noted for a long time that young bloggers seem to either be ignorant of copyright laws or feel that they don’t apply to blogging. That may be the next area where they crack down. Exactly how they’ll enforce this and what we’ll have to do remains to be seen.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 8:44 am →
I don’t have all the answers of course, but believe receiving product samples would be considered as a form of compensation too. I imagine they would want disclosure on each post, and an affiliate link should be disclosed too. They probably can’t enforce it on blogs outside of the USA.
janice responds:
Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 11:42 am →
This was scary! I haven’t gone down the affiliate route much, but even so, where will this end? Does it mean I can’t recommend books any more if they’re in my Amazon bookshop? That I can’t write about an ebook sent as a gift, even if I subsequently love it and want to showcase the author with no benefit to me? Scary… Thanks, Vered & co. As a newbie, I’m glad to have you all to keep me straight.
Davina responds:
Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 2:28 pm →
Hi Vered. I was thinking the same thing as John Hoff said — “Get all the developers of blogging software on board and perhaps create a “notice” for bloggers.” Otherwise, I would think that a person should get a stern warning first if they “offended”.
The Lawyer Mom responds:
Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 6:53 pm →
This is just one big burgeoning mess. For instance, and I quote from a savvy blogger:
“The regulations raise no end of questions. For example: How much do I have disclose? Before I say anything nice about anyone, do I need to list every advertiser I’ve ever had? Every possible business relationship? You think my disclosures are comical now, just wait.”
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/10/05/ftc-regulates-our-speech/
And let’s not even talk about what fellow “endorsers” might put in your comment section, even after you’ve legally “disclosed” what the government wants you to disclose.
At first blush, it all sounds so nice and reasonable . . . as things usually do when the government initially takes something over. But make no mistake folks, this is the camel’s nose under the tent and the government will soon be regulating what was once free speech on the internet.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 8:45 pm →
Thanks for the link – very interesting. I agree with Mr. Jarvis – most bloggers and most people who participate in social media do not consider themselves as making media – they are simply talking and connecting.
Marelisa responds:
Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 11:19 pm →
Hi Vered: I include a note in my blog posts if I have affiliate links, but I think I’m going to add something to my “legal” section as well. Even if there weren’t a law in effect, I consider it to be good practice to let people know that you make money if they buy a product from your blog, for the sake of transparency.
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach responds:
Posted: October 7th, 2009 at 4:52 am →
Here’s a novel idea – people have their OWN responsibility to do their OWN due diligence and research…instead of blindly accepting everything they see.
What a concept, eh?
Mrs. Micah responds:
Posted: October 7th, 2009 at 1:29 pm →
@Barbara Ling, and how do you propose doing that research? When I google a particular financial product, or a face cream, or really any product, I immediately find bloggers reviewing it. Blogs are places where people do their research nowadays. Blogs and message boards.
I’m confused what your idea of personal responsibility is. Should people automatically discount blogs as sources of information? Is that responsible–and if so, where do you suggest they get other people’s viewpoints on how a product works? Should we not look for other people’s opinions?
Or should people who know they’re providing information that’s going to influence buying decisions be responsible enough to say “hey, I want you to know that I got to review this for free, even if I don’t think that influenced my review”?
MomGrind responds:
Posted: October 7th, 2009 at 1:38 pm →
It’s a tricky question. We see the blogger as responsible for protecting the reader, but many bloggers are not exactly media moguls – they are just individuals who write thoughts and opinions; plus, the FTC rules cover social media use as well, and as Mr. Jarvis says (see The Lawyer Mom’s comment), most bloggers and most people who participate in social media do not consider themselves as making media – they are simply talking and connecting.
Caution - Read At Your Own Risk | Blogging Without A Blog responds:
Posted: October 7th, 2009 at 3:49 pm →
[...] Bloggers to be Fined Up to $11000 for Not Disclosing Payments by Vered at Momgrind [...]
RC - RC Rambling responds:
Posted: October 7th, 2009 at 10:17 pm →
I have mixed feelings on this one, and because of the lack of rules (blogging is still a bit of the Wild West), I’m cautious when I’m reading reviews on blog sites, unless I know the writer well and know what his/her policy is on sharing such information.
As for me, as you know, I disclose it all when I’ve been asked to review something. I think it is only right, especially since I come from a journalism/public relations background.