Federal Trade Commission (FTC) & Social Influencers

Social media is a great place to advertise. But what you say in advertisements can have consequences. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) monitors commercial advertisements, and has upped its enforcement of consumer protection laws against advertisers on social media.

Deceptive business practices (anything that would mislead a reasonable consumer) are not not permitted. But sometimes things that the FTC may consider deceptive might not be intuitively so. For example, if you hire someone to endorse your product, then disclosure of payment is a must- or else the endorsement might be considered deceptive.

Check out the FTC's bulletin concerning the use of influencers and endorsers on social media linked here.