FTC, fuck off
SM oliva does his usual job of nailing these quacks but good. think he’s made the point before, but it’s fresh enough:
As I noted yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission now punishes individuals who publish comments online about products for sale without disclosing their own “material interest” in the product. The FTC’s complaint said that it violates federal law to deprive consumers of facts that “would have been material” to their purchasing decision — even if there’s no evidence the failure to disclose actually impacted any consumer’s behavior.
That being said, I have a simple question: How come it violates FTC rules when a public-relations firm posts favorable reviews of its client’s products without disclosing the firm’s relationship with the product’s manufacturer, but it’s perfectly acceptable for major newspapers to publish stories that intentionally withhold the identities of key sources? If deliberately failing to disclose “material” information is the standard for condemning a business act as fraudulent — as the FTC and its supporters say it must be — then I don’t see how, say, the Washington Post can routinely publish articles that cite “unidentified” sources without running afoul of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
Failure to disclose journalistic sources does far more harm to consumers than some PR firm posting fake reviews of a video game. Newspapers essentially ask their readers to accept their reporting as truthful on faith without all the necessary facts. And don’t give me that “First Amendment” crap. The antitrust laws, including the FTC Act, overrule the First Amendment. I know because the antitrust regulators have told me so.
Certainly, supporters of the regulatory state would never tolerate a food manufacturer that refused to disclose key ingredients. There’s no reason the New York Times should be held to a lower standard. If the federal government doesn’t directly control the flow of information to consumers, the market simply cannot function. Right?
All kidding aside, my point here is to refute the mistaken belief that “deception” is the same thing as “fraud.” I’ve read few defenses of the FTC’s actions as nothing more than a legitimate act of punishing “fraud.” But the standard of fraud is not failing to disclose any information that might be relevant to a potential customer. [...]