So, the FTC just dropped some new rules that could hit crypto influencers hard if they're caught with fake followers and likes. Basically, if you're boosting your social media game with fake engagement, you could be looking at some hefty fines from the U.S. consumer protection agency.
On August 14, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted unanimously to pass these regulations, which are set to kick in 60 days after they get published in the Federal Register. So, we might see this come into play pretty soon, maybe as early as October.
These new rules are clear: you can't be buying or selling fake social media metrics like followers or views that come from bots or hacked accounts. If you're inflating your numbers in any way that's not genuine, you're breaking the rules, according to Rob Freund, a lawyer specializing in advertising, who shared his thoughts on X after the announcement.
And get this: if you do get caught, the fines could hit up to $50,000 for each violation. So, it's about to get serious for those trying to game the system.
This law is a welcomed development because these fake reviews, followers, and likes on social media accounts are deceptive. People usually trust platforms with positive reviews and robust followers and this has led to an increase in scams. Social media accounts should be allowed to grow organically to reflect the state of the owners. Reviews should be a true reflection of people's views about a crypto product.
I have seen some adverts about boasting social media accounts to gain a high number of followers in this forum and I see this as a very dishonest act. I wish this law would be copied by our lawmakers because some of these influencers with probably fake details are conniving with scammers to defraud the people. These criminals deserve to pay high fines or serve a jail term.
I'm thinking a little differently.
Even Twitter or YouTube don't know how many fake users they have. So I don't understand the procedure by which this law will work.
For example, you have a YouTube channel and I'm your hater. I give you fake reviews and you pay a fine
As i understand this it is about getting the fake likes, followers , subscribers etc. We know there are panels where people get so many fake likes etc on social media platfoms and when an end user see even a fake news with so many likes, he tend to beleive it is true.
Also, in your example, if i am your hate follower and i give you review (fake or real), it will be considered as a real review as i am your Real follower (and not a bot or something similiar to it). Also, it will be hard to find or differentiate between the fake likes / followers and the real ones for every crypro infleuncer.
The rule will be very difficult to implement. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would have to establish that both parties sold or bought fake indicators. Therefore, there has to be a financial transaction to prove it. The law also includes using artificial intelligence to fake reviews, this can be easily identified. However, I am concerned that this law can be used by competitors to attack platforms. Time will tell how they intend to enforce this law.
I can see the enforcement challenge here. Some platforms struggle to track every fake account, and malicious actors could potentially exploit this law to harm others. However, the intent behind the regulation is to discourage widespread deception and create a more authentic online environment. While no law is foolproof, it's a step towards holding those who engage in these dishonest practices accountable. Hopefully, with time, enforcement mechanisms will become more sophisticated to address such nuances.
Well that leaves a lot of room for confusion. I don't think there is a standard mechanism available to identify these parameters. Which essentially means, FTC can now hold any influencer accountable for anything and everything.
This law can be used against the influencers at any point of time. So if FTC needs to shut anyone, they can now do it legally. It's good to some certain extent but no one can ensure that malpractices won't be followed by FTC.
Remember, it's not that an influencer has fake / bot accounts following them. It's if that influencer went out and paid for them. So the FTC needs to have a money trail from A to B to C.
It also appears to be 'an add on crime' so to speak. If they are going after you for other things it's just one more charge they can bring.
-Dave
Yes, this is what I understood too, meaning that influencers who get fake likes or subscriptions and then misuse them by deceiving viewers or subscribers will be fined.
But how will they be able to distinguish between fake and real likes or follows? There are many programs that work on exchanging likes and follows through real subscribers to increase exchange and likes, and these are real accounts and not fake, so will they be fined too in such a case?
Is US lack of money? they're very creative nowadays in order to earn money, now they will fine $50,000 to alleged influencers who have fake stats.
So here's the scenario:
1. The US will spend $10K to developer who sell fake likes, fake reviews, fake followers etc.
2. The US will sent it to few influencers.
3. The US will fine them $50K.
The US will be rich and they will able to pay their debts for repeating this.
I don't think this is the reason, but the influence of social media has become clear and may affect the upcoming elections, and since they cannot ban or prevent freedom of expression then, imposing fines will be the solution. So I don't think it is only targeted at cryptocurrency influencers, but it will have a good effect in reducing fraud in general.
I don't think any of this is going to happen, they do not have to do this, there are a lot of crypto influencers who boost their channels and pages with fake likes, followers and the rest, and they use it to deceive people, this is what the FTC is after. Many of these influencers also share fake testimonies of of how XY made money from AB coin, which can lure people into buying such coin, i think actions like that are wrong.
The US might not been doing this for just money because the amount of fraud going on in social media is shocking. Since these influencers can easily make money from endorsements, they can do anything to increase their followers, comments and likes. This has led to an increase in scam activities since these influencers can promote anything just for money. The sector needs to be regulated to reduce these criminal activities. After analysing 12 million Instagram accounts, 4.5 million YouTube channels, and 5.2 million TikTok accounts in 2020, HypeAuditor came up with this report.
The way I see it, most of these influencers are lazy and boosting their accounts organically seems too much of a chore thats why they easily jump on the idea of boosting their accounts via fake means. My question is; what happens then to these accounts while this rule is awaiting time to take effect from October? Don't these influencers get to take advantage of the chance to fake their stats and followers to get more people?
For me, I feel their accounts should get blocked and get them to start again because the idea of paying $50k seems like an easy punishment, a slap on the wrist as far as judgement goes.
FTC's new rule aims to combat fake reviews and social media influence manipulation. The rule prohibits buying or selling fake indicators of social media influence, including followers or views generated by bots or hijacked accounts.
We can be very much certain that there are services that offer fake likes and fake follows in all types of socila media hehehe. The influencers make money because they have more engagement for their accounts and the fake likes service also make money because they are paid by the influencers.
This has become a scam and the scammers are the influencers. Ae should not be manipulated by these types of people. This is also a very good argument on why people are beginning to hold bitcoin only. The scams have become so very many, people should be more cautious.