US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rohit Chopra has urged the agency to impose stricter penalties on companies that disguise advertising on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok as authentic content, including making them liable for civil penalties under the US Code. Target advertisers, not small influencers: He called for the FTC to develop and specify requirements that companies must adhere to in their contractual agreements with influencers, essentially holding advertisers and not small influencers responsible for disguised ads. "When individual influencers are able to post about their interests to earn extra money on the side, this is not a cause for major concern,” he wrote, but “when we do not hold lawbreaking companies accountable, this harms every honest business looking to compete fairly.” Commissioner Chopra cited a 2016 case, where a Lord & Taylor (a department store in the US) campaign paid 50 social media influencers to post about a dress on Instagram, but didn’t require them to disclose that the posts were sponsored. The FTC charged Lord & Taylor with deceiving the public, settling the case by prohibiting the company from “misrepresenting that paid ads are from an independent source,” but didn’t levy a monetary fine. Note that since 2019, ads on Instagram include a clear disclosure that highlights that an update is “Sponsored. Paid partnership with [brand]”, and seem to meet all necessary disclosure requirements. Disguised ads are illegal, Chopra said: Disguised paid promotions often reach a wider audience, including people who might not be able to discern…
