Will advertisers be liable if a blogger doesn’t disclose that they’re being paid?
David Spark here, reporting for ad:tech at ad:tech NY 2009.
The FTC is requiring bloggers to disclose when they’re receiving money for a company or product endorsement. I spoke with Thomas A. Cohn, an attorney with Venable which is working with clients very closely on this matter. Cohn explained that what the FTC said is they expect an advertiser to make sure that if a blogger is being compensated or given a free item to talk about the company, then they need to make sure the blogger does disclose the relationship. If the blogger doesn’t, it’s the advertisers job to keep following up to make sure that they do. The implications of what will happen to an advertiser if a blogger doesn’t disclose? Well, we’ll all have to wait and see. Because that’s not clear…yet.
