FTC Guidelines Affect Employee Blogs and Social Networking Posts

Recent revisions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the agency’s “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” may pose large problems for companies and statements made by employees on personal blogs or social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or MySpace.

Part of the revisions require that any connection between an endorser and seller of a product that “might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience)” must be fully disclosed.

If an employee promotes their employer’s product on their personal blog or social networking page, they must now disclose their employment status. Liability here could potentially arise under two separate contexts: (1) for any false or misleading statements in the employee’s online posts; or (2) for the employee's failure to disclose the employment relationship - even when the statements are otherwise truthful.

Granted, the FTC did not specifically set forth explicit guidelines for employers to follow. However, they did acknowledge that “the establishment of appropriate procedures would warrant consideration in its decision” whether or not to pursue an enforcement action.

Therefore, it is imperative that employers are proactive and adopt clear, written policy on their employees’ social media and blogging activities. In order to limit their exposure, companies should educate their employees on the types of statements requiring disclosure, to prohibit false and misleading employee statements, and require that any endorsement be submitted to management for approval prior to posting.

Read the statement from the FTC here.