FTC: Bloggers must disclose payments for reviews
The Federal Trade Commission will try to regulate blogging for the first time, requiring writers on the Web to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The FTC said today its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final Web guidelines, which had been expected. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could bring fines up to $11,000 per violation. Bloggers or advertisers also could face injunctions and be ordered to reimburse consumers for financial losses stemming from inappropriate product reviews. We here at Legit Reviews feel like this is a fair ruling that will help protect consumers and our readers from paid off reviews. Legit Reviews has been online since 2002 and has never accepted a payment of bribe offered by a company to do a review on one of their products. I guess our honesty is working because we have been online and growing since 2002! While we do retain some items for future testing we do return many of the larger ticket items like the desktops and laptops when we are done reviewing them. No big secret or conspiracy on that front to be found.
Bloggers have long praised or panned products and services online. But what some consumers might not know is that many companies pay reviewers for their write-ups or give them free products such as toys or computers or trips to Disneyland. In contrast, at traditional journalism outlets, products borrowed for reviews generally have to be returned. Before the FTC gave notice last November it was going to regulate such endorsements, blogs varied in the level of disclosures about these potential conflicts of interest. The FTC’s proposal made many bloggers anxious. They said the scrutiny would make them nervous about posting even innocent comments.
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