Are You Hiring An ‘Influencer’ Or A Lawsuit With The FTC?

// Thinking about tasking some twenty something with a following to finally put Firm& Name on the TikToks and Youtubes? First, people don’t really use Youtube for that anymore. Second, you should probably familiarize yourself with the FTC’s recent social media guidelines. You’d hate for your firm to be the one that the government decides to make an example of. From Law.com:

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued new regulatory-compliance guidelines for the social media influencer market, a step it typically takes to put an industry on notice before it substantially ramps up enforcement actions.

[T]he guidance creates a definition for “clear and conspicuous,” the standard for disclosing the business relationship between the advertiser and influence, such as whether the influencer is paid or receives free or discounted merchandise,

The FTC says it requires a disclosure be “difficult to miss and is easily understandable by ordinary consumers,” a definition that legal observers say suggests the go-to “sponsored post” or #ad might not always be sufficient.

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Such rules will hopefully put a heavy damper on the annoying astroturfing that runs rampant when corporations want to snag consumers or favor from different demographics. Here are two popular examples that come to mind:

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In short, you should probably have a few quality control sessions with your influencers. Focus on the big things: clear and transparent discussion of your connection with them, and making sure that they share that knowledge with their audiences. Unless, of course, you want us covering you when the FTC takes you to task for breaking the law. That is also a favorable outcome.

FTC Preps For Crackdown On The Wild West Of Social Media Influencers [Law.com]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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Astroturfing, FTC, Influencers