San Francisco - The Federal Trade Commission on Monday published new rules governing product reviews by bloggers - the first time that the US government has sought to control the content of amateur online contributors. The new rules were contained in a new set of guidelines for endorsements and testimonials and are meant to control the growing practice of bloggers and social-network users raving about products in return for payment.
"The post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement," the FTC's new guidelines state. "Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service."
The new rules, which go into effect on December 1, do not detail how such disclosures should be worded but provide for fines of up to 11,000 dollars. A representative for the FTC said that the government would focus on issuing warnings to violators rather than slapping them with hefty fines.
"In terms of bloggers, we are primarily focused on education," FTC official Richard Cleland told PC World. "There are hundreds of thousands of bloggers out there. It's just not practical to deal with them on a case-by-case basis."
