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allows the agency to seek civil penalties against those who knowingly violate it.
I hate that wording. Ignorance of the law isn't a defense, unless you're a corporation, apparently.
It also looks like this doesn't address the practice of offering incentive for actual purchasers to leave positive reviews.
That's not what knowingly means in this context. Knowingly refers to the level of intent required to pursue charges, not whether they knew there was a law against it.
In this case it requires the government to show that the person intended to leave a review and/or testimonials that misrepresent that they are by someone who does not exist.
Anyways my brother works for the FTC. With the current funding, they take thousands of complaints before they even look into something. It’s effectively useless as only the most publicised cases get any enforcement and the fines are tiny. And he says it was twice as bad before Biden.
The wording is a bit ambiguous but I'd read that as "intentionally" rather than "with knowledge they're violating the law"... it definitely could have used a good copy editor though.
They'll just outsource it to foreign "reputation management" firms and pretend they had no idea what was happening, like how Coke got away with murdering union members in a foreign country.
That's not true, ignorance of the law is also a valid defense for police officers violating people's rights 🙄
Awesome, now make them criminally liable.
Corporations are people, no? Throw them in prison.
"I will believe that corporations are people, once Texas executes one."
IMO, corporate punishments should work like that: steal a little from someone? Lose 90 days of profit. Steal a lot? Lose a couple years of profits. Kill someone? Lose 20 years of profits
Jailing CEOs works better only because money is easy to manipulate. Loosing 20 years of profit just means bankruptcy. Make a new name new company buys all assets of bankrupt at fault company and nothing but the name changes. I'm with the idea that if companies have personhood than the person in charge is responsible for harm that personhood does.
I wonder if having to face consequences for their actions would change how CEOs behave 🤔
The CEO would just be a fall guy, and the decision-making would go to someone else.
They tried that when McDonald's served coffee that gave an old woman 3rd degree burns on her genitals.
A single days profits from coffee.
McDonald's fought that in court, and spent many thousands of dollars on a PR campaign to vilify the woman they burned.
Jail or volcano sacrifice. I'm sick of rich fucks being above the law and fines are just an expected, calculated, and bet against expense to a big business.
Lina Khan is literally too good for consumers, that's why she don't last :(
She is doing more for the working class than any other government official. And yet no one knows her name
Who was that punchable face guy who undid net neutrality? And she is completely opposite.
Ajit Pai is that scumbags name. If I ever bump into him at a grocery store I plan to give him the same level of respect he gave the American people.
Some guy in India is gonna get fined $7,498,342.37 in three years and I'm all for it.
Oh dude they literally had an activity at my old cult where they had everyone make a dozen fake reviews at each of their local buildings. That's gonna be fun.
I'm sorry, "my old cult"? Care to give some background? Obviously if you'd rather not that's completely up to you :)
And then he won't pay it because he's in India and doesn't pay a lot of attention to the US FTC.
There is a very long history of expeditions and fines against foreign nationals involving spam, scams, etc. Here is a recent example., and another example, and a much older and bigger example
But you never hear about any of the good stuff the US Government does for its people, nobody ever talks about that stuff.
I am surprised we don't have a PR/propoganda department either breaking even or making money on Netflix documentaries. It's like endless content.
It could actually be a cool way for some career civil servants to ger a little payout towards the end of their career.
Common Lina Khan W
Give me 10 Lina Khans and I'll give you the world.
Lina Khan is the most useful bureaucrat in at least a generation.
I wish she was the one running for president. Maybe in eight years if we're lucky and have Harris. And/or legal elections in four.
I've said it once and I'll say it again. I love the work Lina Khan is doing. Its going to be so sad when Kamala gives her the boot :(
Why would Harris give her the boot? Khan was placed in position by Biden.
Its up for debate if she will, but a lot of big ticket donors are ~~bribing her~~ requesting it as a favor for donating to her campaign.
I thought most of those big donors were just straight up backing trump. I guess the tariffs got them down?
That or they pay both sides.
They definitely pay both sides. It's a small price for an almost guaranteed increase in profits.
They can do it for reviews, why not news?
The constitution is pretty clear about the power of government to regulate commerce, and is also pretty clear that the government can’t regulate most speech.
The Federal Trade Commission today announced a final rule that will combat fake reviews and testimonials by prohibiting their sale or purchase and allow the agency to seek civil penalties against knowing violators.
Oh good, glad they didn't ban obvious joke ones people post for free, like the top reviews for the 50 gallon barrel of lube.
I just got a can of diet Coke in exchange for a 5-star review of a local eatery. I legit like the eatery, but would not have left a review without the bribe.
Is that a legit review or a fake one?
You received an item for the review. That’s a bribe. Fake.
IMHO, if they'd give you the Coke for any review, regardless of rating, that's fine. If they demand a 5-star rating for the Coke, then that's no good.
Your review might have been honest, but not everybody else's who just wanted the Coke will be.
Better than nothing but it also seems like it might be kind of difficult to prove the company allowed it knowingly.
What is going to happen? Will the FTC police gonna come and cart them away? No, it will continue and nothing will happen. FTC enforcement is just a few law suits away from being just like the SEC's enforcement. The SEC can't enforce anything these days without a long drawn out court battle.