FTC Issues Guidance on Native Advertising
The FTC released in December 2015 an enforcement statement
and companion guide for
businesses on native advertising, focusing particularly on digital
media advertising. The watchword for the guidance is
"transparency" -- the commercial nature of an ad is
evident, either on its face or through appropriate disclosures. The
Enforcement Policy Statement on Deceptively Formatted
Advertisements guidance points out, for example, that even if an ad
is formatted the same way as content, the commercial nature of the
ad may be obvious and not require disclosure. Similarly, sponsored
content that does not pertain to a company's products or
services would not require full disclosure; however, content that
is produced by a publisher, but sponsored by the company and
featuring or discussing company products, must be clearly
disclosed.
Guidance specific to digital media:
- Click-on ads: Disclosures may be necessary on both originating page (including news feed) and clicked page.
- Even if content was produced independently, clear disclosures are necessary if content/article is reproduced or "recommended" on other sites in a manner that would appear that recommended content is not a paid ad.
- Sponsored videos: Disclosures will generally be necessary if a product is recommended or featured in a way that advertises the product.
- Shares and news feeds: Need for disclosures depends on reasonable expectations (e.g., does the post come from the company directly or through a different site or user?)
- Paid content coming up in non-paid search results: Disclosures for any link or other visual elements, for example, webpage snippets, images or graphics, intended to appear in non-paid search results must effectively disclose their commercial nature.
In all situations, disclosures must be stated in clear and unambiguous language, placed as close as possible to the native ad, and use a font, color and shade that are easy to read and conspicuous. Video ads must include disclosures that are visible on the screen long enough to be noticed, read and understood, and audio disclosures should be read in clear language and at a cadence that's easy to understand.
FTC's Big Data Report
The FTC released a report titled Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or
Exclusion: Understanding the Issues. The January 2016
report examines how big data is used, after it is collected and
analyzed, and outlines questions for businesses to consider in
order to help ensure legal compliance (Fair Credit Reporting Act
and equal opportunity laws, as well as the FTC Act) and avoid
discriminatory or exclusionary impact of their big data
policies.
Specifically, the report poses four key policy questions drawn from
research into the impact of big data on underserved
populations:
- How representative is your data set?
- Does your data model account for biases?
- How accurate are your predictions based on big data?
- Does your reliance on big data raise ethical or fairness concerns?
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.