FTC: Don't expect payment guidelines to result in anti-blogger sweeps

Earlier this month, Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, called on the Federal Trade Commission to rescind new guidelines that call on bloggers to disclose payments or compensation received from marketers.

Rothenberg contended that the guidelines single out bloggers because print journalists “have long been afforded strong First Amendment protections in traditional media outlets” for similar actions.

However, Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC's division of advertising practices, told Click Z this month that bloggers shouldn't expect a witch hunt, because the FTC doesn't have the ability to carry one out.

“We have explained on a number of occasions that we do not have civil penalty authority,” he said.