Social networks have more and more influence on people, which is why recognized brands have resorted to the use of influencers so that they, through their accounts, reach a new audience. However, those who are dedicated to giving reviews or recommending things on their social networks must be very careful with the information they share and spread, since most of their followers trust what they tell them.
According to a study by the Tomoson platform, it is estimated that 92 percent of users believe the recommendations of others about brands or products, even if they do not know who is recommending it. While, for its part, the data published by Postcron ensures that 66 percent of people trust the opinions published on social networks.
Due to the great influence and power of identification that content creators have with users, and based on misleading advertising or false reviews that certain influencers usually give, the Federal Trade Commission in the United States began to look for a way to combat them and punish those who make use of false advertising, especially in the area of video games.
Based on this, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is paying more attention to the video game industry and will begin updating its guidelines to combat false reviews and other methods of misleading advertising, such as paying a influencers to give “manipulated” reviews.
This is due to the belief that there are companies that pay content creators to speak well of their products and give them high marks in their analysis. For this reason, the FTC initiative is definitive and assured that there are endless influencers who give video games bad reviews simply because companies don’t pay them.
Influencers constantly interact with their followers and their market. There is usually a relationship of trust between them. But there is no responsibility for what they say, even if it leads to error or confusion. The new action guides show that we are going to investigate breaches of trust, whether they are brands manipulating ‘reviews’, ‘influencers’ that do not reflect the commercial relationships they have with their sponsors or actions that try to deceive certain consumer groups.
– Statement by the FTC
The new guidelines imposed by the FTC warn social platforms such as YouTube and Instagram that if their tools are not robust enough to ensure transparency in cases of paid advertising, they will be considered false reviews and the influencers they will be classified as people who hide their payment for publishing content. In addition, the revision of its guidelines allows the Federal Trade Commission to go after influencers virtual or V-Tubers.
Whether it’s a fake review or ‘influencers’ hiding they were paid to post, these types of scams result in people paying more money for bad products or services, and hurt honest competitors.
– Samuel Levine, FTC Director
It is worth mentioning that in 2014, the youtuber PewDiePie was quite criticized for not commenting that he received payment for making positive comments from Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordorprompting the United States Federal Trade Commission to reach an agreement with Warner Bros. to ban this type of paid content.
With these types of decisions, the FTC shows that it has its attention well focused on the video game industry and that it seeks to improve its influence and market in its field.