FTC Takes On Video Game "Influencers"

When the FTC revised its Endorsement Guides in 2009, it signaled that it would focus more of its efforts on deceptive advertising conveyed through social media and evolving methods of online advertising. The FTC warned advertisers that they risk enforcement action when material connections between an endorser and an advertiser are not disclosed, regardless of where the endorsement appears.

Since then, the FTC has kept that promise, and last week announced that it settled a case against Machinima involving its deployment of "influencers" who were paid to "build an early buzz" surrounding the launch of Microsoft's Xbox One console in late 2013.

Machinima is a producer and distributor of content relating to video games, via one of the top entertainment networks on You Tube. Machinima guaranteed Microsoft's advertising agency Starcom Media Vest Group that it would engage its influencers to post Xbox One game play videos that would generate at least 19 million views on