Instagram has a stealth advertising problem, but the issue is more wide-ranging than initially thought.
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), consumer advocacy groups are urging action against these types of photos (which are essentially ads that haven’t been correctly labeled as sponsored posts), BuzzFeed reports.
According to FTC guidelines, paid endorsements online on social media must clearly be identified using appropriate hashtags such as #advertisement or #ad. In the past, the FTC has promised to crack down on celebs breaking the rules on Instagram and elsewhere. However, the groups that signed the letter — which include Commercial Alert, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and Center for Digital Democracy — claim the posts in question are continuing to proliferate.
General users may be able to make the distinction when they see a Kardashian, for example, posing with a brand of tea they’ve never heard of. But the problem now facing the FTC and Instagram is that these types of posts are no longer limited to celebs and influencers. In fact, marketers are now targeting regular users, or what they term “microinfluencers” by offering them free products in exchange for social media posts.
The letter highlights two websites in particular, operated by Influenster and Bzzagent, that encourage users to share posts in which they’re seen using a free product. In exchange, the so-called “microinfluencer” receives even more freebies from brands including Maybelline, BITE beauty, Kleenex, and International Delight. Anyone with a social media account can join the websites and receive free products. On its home page, Influenster (which sends out boxes filled with cosmetics to its members) claims to have more than 2 million “socially active trendsetters.”
The groups identified 50 recent examples of undisclosed ads on Instagram. The users behind the images ranged from A-list celebs, such as David Beckham and Ryan Reynolds, to microinfluencers with much smaller followings.
Although Influenster tells users to disclose their endorsements, most failed to do so, according to the letter. Bzzagent, on the other hand, allegedly doesn’t even bother to inform its users on the appropriate FTC guidelines for online ads. Both companies respectively refute the claims made by the groups.
Bzzagent reached out to Digital Trends with the following statement: “Bzzagent is in full compliance with FTC guidelines. We take Agent disclosure and compliance with FTC regulations very seriously,” states Brian Cavoli, director of marketing, Bzzagent. “Anyone violating these rules repeatedly are unable to participate in any program.”
Influenster claims the allegations made in the letter are “inaccurate.” The company’s PR manager Stephanie Tan states: “Almost all of our members follow our directive and adhere to proper disclosure rules that are in compliance with FTC in their social media posts. In the rare cases that they don’t, our team reaches out to them to remind them to properly disclose in order to avoid suspension from Influenster.”
Tan claims the example posts from Influenster members are accurately disclosed as unpaid product reviews. She adds: “We believe we were unfairly targeted by [the groups].”
The letter states the following in regards to the posts: “Undisclosed paid endorsements from average consumers represents a dangerous trend that the FTC must address, since people generally place more trust in recommendations made by their peers and have no reason to believe that their friends, colleagues and family are engaging in paid product promotion.” It continues: “Thus, companies are preying off of the trust … of smaller level influencers.”
Updated 12/01/2016 by Saqib Shah: Added statements from Influenster, and Bzzagent.
Discord is trying to push more visibility on the internet for some of its biggest communities, and there's a good chance your messages could end up in a Google Search. The platform is preparing to make conversations from certain public servers searchable on the web, so there's a privacy setting you might want to check before the rollout begins.
According to Discord's official announcement, the changes will roll out in two stages. Starting November 16, qualifying servers will have public web pages featuring automated summaries of conversations. By mid-December, individual messages from eligible public channels could also appear word-for-word in Google and other search engines.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?