FTC Takes Hard Line On Disclosures

Social media users who have any relationships with the businesses or people they endorse -- even friendships or family ties -- should disclose those connections when writing reviews, posting on Instagram and tweeting, the Federal Trade Commission advises in newly updated guidance, according to MediaPost.

The FTC has recommended since at least 2009 that online endorsers disclose material connections between themselves and companies that wouldn't otherwise be apparent to consumers. In its newest update, issued this week, the agency continues to take a broad view of the types of connections that require disclosures.

For instance, the FTC discusses a scenario where the owner of a new restaurant invites family and friends to eat for free. If those people discuss the restaurant on social media, they should say that they ate for free, and also that they have a relationship with the owner, the FTC advises.

"It may be relevant to readers that people endorsing your restaurant on social media are related to you. Therefore, they should disclose that personal relationship," the FTC writes. "If someone who eats for free at your invitation posts about your restaurant, readers of the post would probably want to know that the meal was on the house."

Jeff Greenbaum, an advertising lawyer with Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, says the new guidance indicates that to a surprising extent, endorsements on social media remain a high priority.

"I think that many people didn't expect influencers to be such a high priority under the new administration," he says.

He adds that the new recommendations reflect a hard-line position regarding online endorsements.

The FTC also offered some specific guidance about the types of disclosures it is recommending on platforms like Twitter, where space is limited. While the agency says it isn't mandating the use of any particular words, it also says that starting a tweet with #ad "would likely be effective."

People who make endorsements on Snapchat or Instagram Stories should superimpose the disclosure over images, the FTC recommends. "The disclosure should be easy to notice and read in the time that your followers have to look at the image."