FTC Releases Disclosure Guide for Influencers
The Federal Trade Commission has released a new publication for online influencers that lays out the agency’s rules of the road for when and how influencers must disclose sponsorships to their followers. The new guide, “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers,” provides influencers with tips from FTC staff about what triggers the need for a disclosure…
Firm Selling Social Media Followers and Likes Busted by NYAG
In January 2018, the New York Times did an expose on an obscure American company named Devumi that has collected millions of dollars in a shadowy global marketplace for social media fraud. Devumi sells Twitter followers and retweets to celebrities, businesses and anyone who wants to appear more popular or exert influence online. Drawing on…
Webinar 4/26: Social Media Influencers and the FTC
Jeffrey Greenbaum and I will be presenting a webinar on Social Media Influencers and the FTC on Thursday, April 26th at Noon Pacific. The Federal Trade Commission is paying increased attention to social media influencer marketing. After a series of warnings, the FTC has begun enforcement actions against influencers and their advertisers. What do influencers…
Cyber Report: Privacy Spring from GDPR to Facebook
CLBR #288: FTC and Influencer Marketing with Jeffrey A. Greenbaum
FTC and Influencer Marketing with Jeffrey A. Greenbaum LISTEN/DOWNLOAD Jeffrey A. Greenbaum, Managing Partner of Frankfurt Kurnit, returns to discuss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) increased focus on Influencer Marketing. Topics Covered State of the FTC Honored that @POTUS has expressed his intent to nominate me as a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal…
FTC Nails Social Media Influencers, Warns Others
The Federal Trade Commission recently settled with “TmarTn” Martin and Thomas “Syndicate” Cassell, two social media influencers who are widely followed in the online gaming community, on charges that they deceptively endorsed the online gambling service CSGO Lotto, while failing to disclose they jointly owned the company. They also allegedly paid other well-known influencers thousands of…
Latest Cyber Report: Ten Things in Tech You Need to Know
WB Caught in Shadows by FTC
WB Caught in Shadows by FTC Warner Brother’s popular video game Shadow of Mordor got a new audience – the Federal Trade Commission. WB promoted the game using paid influencers to post positive reviews on YouTube. This including hiring influential gamers to post videos promoting Shadow of Mordor – videos that ultimately yielded more than 5.5…
Lord & Taylor Enters Native Advertising Consent Decree
In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission updated its endorsement guidelines to, among other things, include bloggers. In 2013 it updated its DotCom Disclosure guidelines to address social media. It issued numerous warnings before finally cracking down in 2015 in the AmeriFreight matter. For the past several years, the Federal Trade Commission expressed increasing concern over the use…
FTC Goes After Roca Labs for False Claims and Consumer Gag Orders
FTC GOES AFTER ROCA LABS FOR “ADVERSARIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TRUTH” AND USE OF GAG ORDERS Last week the Federal Trade Commission filed an enforcement action against Roca Labs, Inc. and Roca Labs Nutraceutical USA, Inc.; as marketers of a line of weight-loss supplements who allegedly made baseless claims for their products, and then threatened to…
Cyber Report: A Dozen Things You Need to Know (Patriot’s Day Edition)
April 20, 2015 A Dozen Things in Tech You Need to Know Happy Patriot’s Day! Patriot’s Day commemorates that Battle of Lexington and Concord and the “shot heard ’round the world” that began the American Revolution. It is a holiday in Maine and Massachachusetts and celebrated by, among other things, the running of the Boston…
After Several Check Swings, FTC Hits Company Over Incentivizing Reviews
FTC Sanctions AmeriFreight for Touting Incentivized Reviews As reported most recently in FTC Declines to Take Action Over Yahoo! Astroturfing, the Federal Trade Commission had shown great reluctance to sanctions firms for violating the Endorsement Guidelines updated in 2009 to address social media. In December, however, the FTC sanctioned Deutsch LA for using its employees to…
Inside Sony/Deutsch LA Consent Decree: FTC Cracks Whip on Endorsement Guidelines in Social Media
Inside Sony/Deutsch LA Consent Decree: FTC Cracks Whip on Endorsement Guidelines in Social Media When the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) revised endorsement guidelines came out in 2009, there was a big uproar that the FTC would be prosecuting bloggers, when the reality is that the FTC has been very restrained in its enforcement of the…
FTC Declines to Take Action Over Yahoo! Astroturfing
FTC Issues No Action Letter Over Yahoo! Astroturfing The Federal Trade Commission has declined to take action In response to press reports that Yahoo! employees posted positive reviews of Yahoo! mobile apps on iTunes without disclosing their affiliation as required by the FTC’s Endorsement Guidelines. The FTC enumerated the following factors for this decision: there were…
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