How To ".Com"ply With Disclosure Rules For Digital Advertising - Part 1: Avoiding Deceptive Advertising In The Digital Age

Does the medium matter? According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's recent publication, ".com Disclosures, How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising", consumer protection laws apply equally to all forms of media and devices, including smartphones, tablets, Facebook, Twitter and the internet. The new FTC guidance, released on March 12, 2013, is an update to the FTC's 2000 publication, "Dot Com Disclosures".

As a general rule, the FTC requires that an advertiser provide additional information when an ad makes a claim, express or implied, that might be misleading without more information. To be effective, that additional information must be presented in a way that is clear and conspicuous.