FTC Warns Companies of Penalties

FTC Warns Almost 700 Marketing Companies That They Could Face Civil Penalties if They Can’t Back Up Their Product Claims

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news...ant-back-their

Quote:

The Federal Trade Commission is putting hundreds of advertisers on notice that they should avoid deceiving consumers with advertisements that make product claims that cannot be backed up or substantiated. In notices sent to the companies, the FTC warned that it will not hesitate to use its authority to target violators with large civil penalties. Under FTC law, companies must back up claims about what their product can do with reliable evidence. If a company makes a claim about the health or safety benefits of a product, that claim must be based on scientific evidence. If a company claims that its product can cure, mitigate, or treat a serious disease such as cancer or heart disease, it must back up that claim through the accepted standards of scientific testing.

This isn't really anything new it is? The fed occasionally go after companies that market dubious items that are worthless. But the fine just seems to be part of doing business. Until it becomes a criminal matter rather than a civil one, it seems it will just be part of the price of doing business for some.

Quote:

Notices of penalty offenses allow the agency to seek civil penalties -- up to $50,120 per violation -- against a company that engages in conduct that it knows has been found unlawful in a previous FTC administrative order, other than a consent order.

Sounds like peanuts to me. Unless each sale is a violation.

The list of those warned so far. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc...Recipients.pdf

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