Marketers and bloggers are equally angered by new Federal Trade Commission guidelines that require bloggers to disclose cash or incentives they've received for writing about a particular topic or brand. Marketers are so up in arms that one trade group, the Internet Advertising Bureau, has even suggested the FTC rescind the guidelines, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"These revisions are punitive to the online world and unfairly distinguish between the same speech, based on the medium in which it is delivered," IAB chair Randall Rothenberg said in an open letter to the FTC. The IAB has called for the FTC to rewrite the regulations, this time with input from bloggers and advertisers.
It's no surprise that ad groups would be dissatisfied with the new rules; the FTC will focus all of its enforcement on advertisers, rather than the bloggers themselves, according to the Journal.
With the onus of disclosure falling largely on advertisers, the FTC is working to assure bloggers the new regulations aren't the beginning of a witch hunt. Bloggers who break the new rules don't face any sort of immediate monetary penalty, but they could eventually face legal action if they ignore the FTC's cease-and-desist letters, according to the Journal.
