What’s up with the FTC and blogs these days? Don’t ask me, ask the FTC

Things I have seen or heard about the FTC regulation of blogs in the last six months (which, by the way, goes into effect on December 1)

Targeting bloggers is discriminatory
Targeting bloggers violates my free speech

The FTC is not actually targeting bloggers at all

It’s a law

It’s a guideline

It’s all Obama’s fault


You need to disclose free books if you’re a book blogger

You don’t need to disclose free books if you’re a book blogger

Fuck the FTC

Go FTC!

You have to disclose your affiliate links the same as a free product

You don’t have to disclose your affiliate links.

If you don’t disclose you could be fined $11,000

And my favorite of all:

This all started just to regulate mommybloggers

Yee-ha.

Since starting Blog with Integrity, we’ve realized that we have a great opportunity to use the effort as an educational resource for bloggers, by bloggers. So we decided hey, we don’t know all the answers – let’s go to the source.

 I’m excited to announce that tomorrow we’re hosting our second webinar – a free town hall meeting featuring Mary Engle, Associate Director of Consumer Protection of the FTC. It’s from 12-1pm EST and you can even show up in your pjs. Such is the beauty of the web.

Mary Engel will answer questions that have already been sent in by bloggers and PR folks. And if you have a question, hopefully you’ll be able to ask it too. But you have to sign up here.

Hopefully this will be the end of a lot of the misinformation. Or at least the stuff about how the FTC is just gunning for mom blogs. You know, because we moms, we’re all so stoooooopid.

By the way, if you haven’t read Susan Getgood’s post about The FTC, free speech and journalism, it’s awesome.

And if you don’t care about any of this stuff? Carry on. Tomorrow I’ll be back and tell you about my daughter, the eyedrop addict.