The FTC has a deadline for bloggers to disclose when they get payment or free product or services. Starting December 1, they’re watching for paid endorsements online.  So when a blogger does a review they must disclose that the product was free or that they were paid to write about a product.

Violators can be subject to fines of $11,000 per violation but the FTC says the focus is on educating not fining people.

We all know that anyone can say anything online without a lot of scrutiny. For most of the mom bloggers I know they won’t leave a negative review or they’ll just opt out of writing about something they don’t like. So the reviews are positive. They have built the trust of their readers so there is little incentive to ruin that by marketing products that their readers won’t like or by lying about the benefits.

Now all we need to do is state that we’re being compensated.

2 Responses to “FTC: Bloggers Must Disclose or Face Fines”

1. Paul Levinson Says:
   October 6th, 2009 at 11:31 pm

   Here’s my take on this issue http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2009/10/ftc-wrong-to-regulate-deceitful.html

2. NewspaperGirl Says:
   October 7th, 2009 at 3:22 am

   Paul,
   I’m with you — this is going too far. Bloggers can be paid but there are many like me who aren’t. We don’t get paid per post or monthly like a journalist. No benefits. So to get free product or put in affiliate links is pretty much our only payment.

   We ought to disclose. I haven’t, not that I had anything to hide, but I have ads for things I’ve written about. I wouldn’t put the ads up unless I use and like the service myself. Fining us for non-disclosure is a bit heavy-handed (I imagine they’ll go after the big names).

   This can get a bit dicey.

   Janet

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