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posted by martyb on Friday September 04 2015, @04:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the end-horse-mints-endorsements dept.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled with Machinima Inc. after it paid YouTube broadcasters to endorse Microsoft's Xbox One without disclosure:

The FTC said the settlement [PDF] will forbid Machinima from running videos without properly disclosing when the broadcaster has been compensated for endorsing a product. "When people see a product touted online, they have a right to know whether they're looking at an authentic opinion or a paid marketing pitch," said FTC consumer protection bureau head Jessica Rich. "That's true whether the endorsement appears in a video or any other media."

[...] The videos were aired as part of an advertising campaign for Microsoft and its advertising agency, Starcom Mediavest Group. The FTC determined that neither Microsoft or Starcom would be subject to the complaint, which was instead made against Machinima. "The failures to disclose here appear to be isolated incidents that occurred in spite of, and not in the absence of, policies and procedures designed to prevent such lapses," the FTC said [PDF]. "Microsoft had a robust compliance program in place when the Xbox One campaign was launched, including specific legal and marketing guidelines concerning the FTC's Endorsement Guides."

Under the terms of the settlement, Machinima will be required for the next 30 years to clearly disclose when a video includes paid endorsements. The company will also be required to set up policies to ensure proper labeling and disclosure of paid endorsements and, for the next five years, maintain all documents related to the settlement available to the FTC.

Related: UK Vloggers "Must" Comply With Advertising Guidelines


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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday September 05 2015, @12:30AM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday September 05 2015, @12:30AM (#232467) Homepage Journal

    Believe it was organized on twitter under the #OpSkyNet tag but it could just as well have been just out in the #GamerGate tag. I remember seeing stuff about it there but man it has been a long time and I'm too busy and lazy to search tonight.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @01:57AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @01:57AM (#232485)

    If that's the case, TotalBiscuit is dissing their contribution since, as previously linked, [twitter.com] he has stated that it was his own work paying off.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday September 05 2015, @05:43AM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday September 05 2015, @05:43AM (#232528) Homepage Journal

      Well, it was. He did the key work, the rest of the folks who chipped in wrote an email or maybe made a phone call. Necessary because the FTC probably doesn't subscribe to TB's youtube channel but not really glamorous. I haven't seen any hard feelings over him taking due credit though.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @10:59AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @10:59AM (#232579)

        Well, I did my best to prove you right and all I found was:

        (1) No historical record of any such activity
        (2) Historical record on the KotakuInAction reddit of someone asking why there was no such activity and multiple people confirming that there was no such activity

        Your turn to prove you right.