June 22, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission announces plans to regulate bloggers, and the online community is not happy.

Many bloggers accept perks such as free laptops, trips to Europe, or small items like makeup products to review. In return the blogger then lets the people reading their blog know about the product.

The FTC says this is the same as advertising and should be held to the same standards, but bloggers including local blogger Marijean Jaggers disagree. "What do you do about a blogger that reviews a product just because they bought it themselves, how do they prove that there was no compensation for that."

Jaggers says many bloggers write about products they like and don't like, that they purchased, and the freebies they do receive doesn't necessarily mean a good review for the product.