FTC Releases Disclosure Guidelines for Social Media Influencers

WASHINGTON – In a newly released document titled “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers,” the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) summarizes how social media influencers can “ensure consumers are aware of advertising relationships” between influencers and the brands and products they endorse.

While many companies and brands may be wary of having advertising relationships with adult entertainment industry influencers, there are some which maintain such relationships with adult industry influencers – and for such influencers, following these guidelines isn’t just a good business practice, it’s also a legal requirement.

“Disclosures 101” summarizes in plain language the far lengthier (and denser in terms of legalese) FTC guidelines concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising that are defined under the Code of Federal Regulations at 16 CFR Part 255.

The core of the disclosure requirement is quite straightforward: If you work with brands to recommend or endorse their products, you must comply with the law when doing so. The new guidelines explain how and when to disclose your relationship with the brand in question.

“If you endorse a product through social media, your endorsement message should make it obvious when you have a relationship (‘material connection’) with the brand,” the FTC states in its summary. “A ‘material connection’ to the brand includes a personal, family, or employment relationship or a financial relationship – such as the brand paying you or giving you free or discounted products or services. Telling your followers about these kinds of relationships is important because it helps keep your recommendations honest and truthful, and it allows people to weigh the value of your endorsements.”

Under the section marked “When to Disclose,” the FTC explains that influencers must disclose when they “have any financial, employment, personal, or family relationship with a brand.”

As the FTC notes, these financial relationships “aren’t limited to money.” Influencers must also disclose if they have received “anything of value” in exchange for mentioning or endorsing a product.

“If a brand gives you free or discounted products or other perks and then you mention one of its products, make a disclosure even if you weren’t asked to mention that product,” the FTC states in its summary.

Influencers also shouldn’t assume followers already know about their brand relationships and should make disclosures even when they think their “evaluations are unbiased.”

Intuitively enough, if an influencer has no brand relationship and is just telling people about a product they bought and happen to like, then the influencer needn’t declare that they don’t have a relationship with the brand.

In terms of how influencers should go about disclosing brand relationships, the key is to “make sure people will see and understand the disclosure,” the FTC said in its summary.

“Place it so it’s hard to miss,” the guidelines state, adding that the disclosure “should be placed with the endorsement message itself.”

“Disclosures are likely to be missed if they appear only on an About Me or profile page, at the end of posts or videos, or anywhere that requires a person to click More,” the FTC adds in its guidelines. “Don’t mix your disclosure into a group of hashtags or links.”

Getting more specific, the guidelines state that if the endorsement is “in a picture on a platform like Snapchat and Instagram Stories,” influencers should “superimpose the disclosure over the picture and make sure viewers have enough time to notice and read it.”

The guidelines offer similar instructions with respect to endorsements in videos and live streams, saying that in the case of the latter, “the disclosure should be repeated periodically so viewers who only see part of the stream will get the disclosure.”

In terms of how such disclosures are stated, the FTC says influencers should “use simple and clear language.”

“Simple explanations like ‘Thanks to Acme brand for the free product’ are often enough if placed in a way that is hard to miss,” the FTC states. “So are terms like ‘advertisement,’ ‘ad,’ and ‘sponsored.’ On a space-limited platform like Twitter, the terms ‘AcmePartner’ or ‘Acme Ambassador’ (where Acme is the brand name) are also options.”

Beyond how and when to make disclosures, the guidelines warn influencers “you can’t talk about your experience with a product you haven’t tried” (although it’s unclear how the FTC would know whether or not an influencer has tried any given product) and “if you’re paid to talk about a product and thought it was terrible, you can’t say it’s terrific.”

Influencers are also advised that “you can’t make up claims about a product that would require proof the advertiser doesn’t have – such as scientific proof that a product can treat a health condition.”

For more information on the FTC’s new guidelines for social media influencers, you can read the full Disclosures 101 document here. The FTC also offers an endorsement guide Q&A, which was produced by FTC staff in 2017.