In a move that might be part of a settlement that YouTube has entered into with the Federal Trade Commission, the video-sharing site said it will ban “targeted” advertisements on videos likely to be watched by children. Because targeted ads rely on information collected about the platform’s users, displaying such ads to children
The high-end skincare brand Sunday Riley has settled lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission claiming that the brand’s founder encouraged employees of her eponymous company to set up accounts “under different identities” on the cosmetics retail site Sephora.com and leave positive reviews for Sunday Riley’s products. The FTC filed the complaints after the agency
The Federal Trade Commission is trying yet another approach to convey the message that the relationship between a social media “influencer” and the brand he or she is endorsing must be disclosed. This new guidance from FTC staff takes the form of a brochure (with accompanying video) aimed directly at influencers. It bluntly states that influencers “must comply with the law” when working with brands to recommend or endorse products and provides “tips on when and how to make good disclosures.”
The brochure is a distillation of the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (the “Endorsement Guides”), as well as subsequent FAQs, guidance, and related materials. Arising out of the prohibition under Section 5 of the FTC Act on unfair and deceptive acts or practices, the Endorsement Guides require advertisers and endorsers (i.e., influencers) to, among other things, clearly and conspicuously disclose when the advertiser has provided an endorser with any type of compensation in exchange for an endorsement. This type of arrangement is what the Endorsement Guides describe as a “material connection,” meaning “a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience).” The new brochure delivers this message as follows: “Telling your followers about these kinds of relationships [i.e., material connections] is important because it helps keep your recommendations honest and truthful, and it allows people to weigh the value of your endorsements.”
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Singapore has enacted a law granting government ministers the power to require social media platforms to completely remove or place warnings alongside posts the authorities designate as false.
Unlike the compensation earned by child stars who perform on television, in films, or on other traditional media in California, the income generated by children who
A new law in Australia makes a social media company’s failure to remove “abhorrent violent material” from its platform punishable by significant fines. The law also states that the executives at social media companies who fail to remove the content could be sentenced to jail time.
The European Parliament voted to approve the Copyright Directive,
In the last few years, as advertising has followed consumers from legacy media such as television to online video and social media platforms, the Federal Trade Commission has been attempting to ensure that participants in this new advertising ecosystem understand the importance of complying with the FTC’s “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” or the endorsement guides. The endorsement guides require advertisers and endorsers (also referred to as influencers) to, among other things, clearly and conspicuously disclose when the advertiser has provided an endorser with any type of compensation in exchange for an endorsement.
A failure to make appropriate disclosures may be a violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices. In recent enforcement actions, press releases, guidance, closing letters and letters sent directly to endorsers (including prominent public figures), the FTC has made clear its belief that: (1) appropriate disclosures by influencers are essential to protecting consumers; and (2) in too many instances, such disclosures are absent from celebrity or other influencer endorsements.
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Last year we covered a wide range of online legal and business subjects intended for readers ranging from Internet entrepreneurs to social media marketers, from online shoppers to e-tailers, from networkers to influencers (and the brands that pay them).
The topics of our blog posts covered a myriad of cutting-edge subjects, including a new federal
As Socially Aware readers know, social media is transforming the way companies interact with consumers. Learn how to make the most of these online opportunities while minimizing your company’s legal risks at Practising Law Institute’s (PLI) 2018 Social Media conference, to be held in San Francisco on Thursday, February 1st, and in New
After British police unsuccessfully tried to get the blogging platform WordPress.com to remove offensive and threatening posts, the deputy leader of the UK’s Labour Party vowed to urge changes that would make the country’s laws less tolerant of online abuse.
As bipartisan U.S. legislation to prevent the appearance of foreign-entity-funded political ads on social media
With much fanfare, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continues to take actions relating to so-called “social media influencers” who allegedly fail to disclose material connections to the products or brands they endorse. Recurring enforcement actions and guidance—and the FTC’s ongoing promotion of its own efforts, such as through Twitter chats—make it clear that the FTC believes that its message has still not been heard by all of the players in this advertising ecosystem, including influencers themselves.
In short, any endorsements in any medium where the endorser has a material connection of any kind to the endorsed advertiser must be disclosed.
The most recent developments include an enforcement action against a company—and two of its officers—in connection with endorsements of the company made by the officers in YouTube videos and in social media. Before turning to this case, however, we provide a brief overview of how the FTC has gotten here.
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