FTC mulls probe into deceptive social media advertising

UPDATE (March 17, 2023): FTC asks social media, video streaming firms info on deceptive ads

The Federal Trade Commission of the United States announced that it will vote next week on if they should order eight social media and video streaming platforms to disclose how they track and review deceptive advertising.

While the FTC didn’t reveal the name of these companies, Meta’s Facebook & Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest and Reddit are among the platforms that are quite popular in the United States.

The agency announced that it will also vote on whether they should demand information from five business credit reporting agencies about how they collect and report data about small businesses and how they market their reporting products. Their names haven’t been disclosed as well.

The voting will take place during a meeting of the Commission on March 16, which will be open to the public.

Depending on the outcome of the votes, the FTC could use the information requested from the companies for enforcement measures or as the basis for future laws or regulations, Reuters wrote.