FTC Tells Amateur Bloggers to Disclose Freebies or Be Fined

Attention bloggers: If you write about something you received free and you don't disclose the giveaway, get ready to cough up $11,000 in fines. The Federal Trade Commission issued new rules Monday requiring people who author Web logs to disclose freebies or payments they receive for blogging, even if it's in a 140-character Twitter message about a product.

The rule change extends fair disclosure rules that already apply to television, radio and magazines. Now they apply to the Internet – even individual mommy blogs, where readers look for objective reviews from other moms. Bu the FTC stopped short of saying exactly how bloggers must disclose freebies or relationships with advertisers. But the change lands smack in the middle of a hot debate among full- or part-time bloggers about how to handle freebies and advertising.The Federal Trade Commission introduced the rules to prevent the net from being flooded with paid-for reviews which appear to be the work of everyday netizens, but are actually paid for with free products. But the new rules (.pdf) are confusing, ambiguous and likely unenforceable in the real world, given the size of the net, the sheer number of blogs and reviewers, and the difficulty of making distinctions between media professionals and amateurs — and between sponsored posts and pure reviews.

[Source: Wired]