Last week, the FTC announced that AT&T had agreed to pay $60 million to settle litigation over allegations that the company misled customers by advertising “unlimited” data plans that were subject to significant limitations. If you work in the mobile or broadband spaces, you should check out this analysis by our friends at CommLaw Monitor. But the settlement includes some valuable lessons, even if you don’t work in those spaces. Andrew Smith, Director of the…

On a new episode of the Ad Law Access Podcast, Gonzalo Mon provides an update for individual influencers on the FTC’s new guide and video designed to help influencers understand their responsibilities regarding when and how they should disclose the relationships they have to the brands they endorse. For additional information see the Ad Law Access blog posts: FTC Releases New Guide for Influencers Yoga Influencers’ Disclosures Show Limits of Flexibility Influencer Marketing Council Provides …

Yesterday, the FTC released a new guide and video designed to help influencers understand when and how they should disclose the relationships they have to the brands they endorse. The guidance doesn’t break new ground, and readers of this blog shouldn’t find too many surprises, but it does summarize the key requirements in an easy-to-read format. Here are some key points: The term “endorsement” should be read broadly. For example, simply tagging a brand, without…

This week, the FTC announced a settlement with Sunday Riley Modern Skincare and its CEO, Sunday Riley, over allegations that company managers and employees posted fake reviews on Sephora.com. The FTC alleged that company managers, including Ms. Riley herself, posted reviews of the company’s products on Sephora.com, and asked other employees do the same. When Sephora removed some of the reviews, managers suspected it was because Sephora recognized they were coming from IP addresses associated…

On Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed seven legislative proposals to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), marking the end of a nearly-yearlong process to make changes to the new privacy law before it goes into effect on January 1st.  The next opportunity to amend the CCPA will be in the 2020 legislative session. The Governor’s decision to sign the amendments followed the release by the California Attorney General of draft regulations last Thursday…

NAD recently announced a decision involving Pyle Audio’s campaign to generate reviews for its NutriChef brand vacuum sealers. When consumers received their products, they would find a card promising them two rolls of vacuum sealing bags in exchange for leaving a review on Amazon.com. Near that promise, the card included the words “love this” and an image of five stars. The challenger argued that this presentation suggested that consumers had to leave positive reviews in…