Interesting: FTC to Fine Bloggers up to $11,000 for Not Disclosing Payments
That’s an $11,000 fine per non-disclosing post for those bloggers coming under the US FTC’s ambit.
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. Now, with the threat of serious fines, those who look to push the boundaries of ethical blogging will be doing so at their own risk.
So, in the spirit of this well overdue initiative:
Disclosure: Hoyden About Town receives no pecuniary or other benefit from blogging regularly about Doctor Who and LOLcats. We’ve received a couple of review copies of books over the years, and I got a freebie pass to one WordCamp event because I was on one of the discussion panels. Some of our kind readers have kicked in to cover our hosting costs. One day we will have a bit of merchandise. We’re considering some advertising if we can find a partner that allows us to pre-block certain content. That’s it.
Categories: ethics & philosophy, law & order
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I think this is a really interesting move, and I’m going to be watching fallout with fascination. Basic blogging ethics are pretty severely lacking in some places out there (as some aspects of the #nestlefamily debacle illustrated recently), so I’m not really surprised that it has come to this.
Will any of our USAn readers be affected by this, or will any of you look at tweaking/clarifying any of your practices? (I’m not pointing the finger at any Hoydenizens here, just wondering if this will affect you in any way.) Do you read any blogs which you think might be affected? What do other Ozbloggers do about disclosures? Do you think this sort of provision could make it into Australian law in the near to medium future?
I’d like to see local mainstream news media forced to disclose when they’re regurgitating company press releases instead of doing actual journalism.
“I’d like to see local mainstream news media forced to disclose when they’re regurgitating company press releases instead of doing actual journalism.”
It might be simpler if they just made a note when they *were* doing actual journalism.