About a year ago, the major buzz on the Internet was all about the FTC and their new rules; rules directed at social media and online marketing, that basically said if you are compensated in any way for reviewing or endorsing a product, you must fully disclose this. It made a lot of people made. It made others cry foul. And it made many think that there’s no way the FTC can monitor billions of pages on the Internet. Well, it turns out the FTC is actively cracking down on the worst offenders.
At least a little bit. So far they’ve launched a grand total of two public investigations. One was for video game developers who had hired people to write up positive reviews for video games. The case was settled with no fines and no admission of guilt. But it goes to show they are watching…after all, video game reviews aren’t exactly high crimes. They also investigated Ann Taylor stores after it was learned bloggers were given free gifts when previewing their summer collection…and didn’t disclose that they received free gifts in their reviews. Again, not exactly high crimes, but it caught the attention of the FTC anyway.
The lesson for all bloggers, marketers and social media folks is that no matter who you are, you have to play by the rules. If you don’t, you just might be rolling the dice of whether or not the FTC will come calling. For a full review on what the FTC is doing, you can read the Chicago Tribune’s piece on it by clicking here.
Only the ruling class gets to do this sort of thing. We the new American underclass must be watched over like children/criminals. With all of the real crime out there these government goons have time to threaten and intimidate Internet entrepreneurs like this? I am very disappointed that people like Dave will just cave and behave like there is nothing wrong here. There is a hefty price to pay for this meddling by the statists that goes far beyond your commissions. It won’t end with this–controls breed controls.