The FTC (Federal Trade Commission, United States Federal Trade Commission) has decided to take serious action against false and manipulated reviews that influencers make of entertainment products, including video games. Although this measure is not current, the truth is that for a long time the Commission has detected a greater false transparency, clarity and objectivity in the reviews offered by influencers, sometimes paid by companies to better promote their products or, at the same time, On the contrary, not paying them and therefore causing the reviews to be worse than the product that reached the public really was.
Already in 2015 companies such as Machinima Inc or Warner Brothers were sued for these issues. In 2019, the FTC decided to reform the transparency measures, but this was not enough, which is why it recently opened a proposal to tighten them even more. Especially the FTC wants to reinforce the veracity of the reviews of products aimed at children and also the content of the reviews offered, in such a way that there is a real connection between what is sponsored and the message that the influencers launch. This is especially important in the video game industry, where the bombing review it has become a fairly common practice that accompanies the release of certain games.
“Influencers constantly interact with their followers and their market. There is usually a relationship of trust between them. But there is no responsibility for what they say, even if it leads to error or confusion. The new action guides show that we are going to investigate breaches of trust, whether they are brands manipulating reviews, influencers that do not reflect the commercial relationships they have with their sponsors or actions that try to deceive certain groups of consumers ” , we can read in pc gamer.