FTC Might Start Investigating Bloggers for Graft
Internet Writers May Be Required to Disclose Endorsement Deals
Aug 2, 2009
Bloggers who try to peddle their opinions in exchange for gifts or other compensation may be running into trouble with the FTC in the near future. According to Forbes Magazine, the federal agency will vote this fall to include bloggers and so-called "discussion boards" in its regulations regarding shady business dealings.
The "discussion boards" include comment sections on websites.
Elizabeth Eaves, a Forbes deputy editor, wrote in a July 31, 2009 column that the proposed regulations would call for blogs and commentators to provide disclosure of paid relationships, specifically "material connections between the endorser and the advertiser."
Eaves cites a case of a blogger who demanded a $29.99 pair of shoes from a conference exhibitor, threatening him with negative comments in her blog if he did not give her the shoes. He didn’t.
The Blog Business Today
The more likely occurrence in the blog business today is that a company will offer a gift or other compensation to a blogger in exchange for, or maybe expectation of, a favorable report or mention of a product or company. That's the way it has usually been in the traditional news media for decades.
The old public relations practice of bringing booze to newspaper staffs at Christmas, or buying lunches or even coffee for writers is now forbidden by most traditional media. However, in blogging, the acceptance of any gifts is left to the conscience of the individual blogger, unless he or she is working for an established publication or station.
One unsubstantiated report said a national retailer paid a blogging team to travel around the country visiting its outlets and writing complimentary reports on their visits.
No one knows how prevalent such practices are in the wide open, largely unsupervised blogging business, where nearly anyone can write personal opinions that reach thousands, perhaps millions of readers, often overnight.
Transparency Minded Bloggers
Eaves wrote that "transparency-minded bloggers have always policed their own communities for shakedown artists and hucksters, with some success." But at least in some corners of the FTC, there hasn’t been enough of that success.
Even when bloggers are caught swapping their opinions for favors, there have been few consequences for them. Many of their readers may never hear of the sleazy deals and continue to assume the bloggers are providing objective reports.
Like email spammers, the bloggers can, if necessary, simply change their online names, resume publishing and making deals.
Even if the FTC agrees to add the bloggers to the list of people it regulates, readers should not expect an avalanche of cases. The agency mostly responds to complaints from consumers or competitors and the investigative process takes time.
Richard Cleland of FTC
The FTC’s Richard Cleland told Eaves that the agency has no plans "to open up an Internet blogging monitoring campaign." Doing so might bog down the agency for years.
Enforcement agencies facing such a dilemma would more likely try scaring bloggers into compliance by getting tough in a few high profile cases.
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