
90 percent of affiliate ads on YouTube and Pinterest aren’t disclosed - DyslexicAtheist
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/27/17167006/princeton-university-research-affiliate-links-sponsored-posts-youtube-pinterest
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jimmies
Thanks for bringing this up.

This issue has been really itchy for a while for me personally. There is no
way to trust reviews of anything online anymore. In the past, I have been
relying on online reviews and feel smart, now I feel I'm dumb if I trust
online reviews.

In a perfect world, the ones who earn referral bonuses have to disclose, but I
don't think that is going to happen. So I think there needs to be a reverse
trend: The ones who don't earn referral bonuses need to tell their audience
so. Same as if you think GMO food is harmful and there isn't enough regulation
to make GMO food to be properly labeled, then you should advertise your GMO-
free/organic food as a selling point.

I have a free software project that needs hardware purchased. So I listed the
BOM with unaffiliated links on Amazon, and the message:

>All the links above on Amazon are not affiliated and are linked for reference
only. You are encouraged to search for better prices elsewhere and buy at
local stores to support their businesses. Usually, MicroCenter has better
prices on the Pi and the touchscreen.

>

>If you buy on Amazon, I would encourage you to use
[http://smile.amazon.com](http://smile.amazon.com) and select a charity of
your choice (If you don't have one in mind, please consider the Free Software
Foundation/FSF and the Electronic Frontier Foundation/EFF).

People asked why don't I have affiliated links, and I said money isn't what I
look for running this project. I'm basically running a social experiment with
my project, and having fun with it. I guess for once I can say I am the change
I want to see in the world.

------
CM30
This is a huge problem on a lot of the internet unfortunately, with YouTube
and Pinterest only being the tip of the iceberg. Neither influencers or review
sites seem to like disclosing affiliate links, and even a fair few media
sources (especially lesser known ones) like trying to hide any associations
they may have with the topics of their stories.

It's especially bad in various tech fields, with the web hosting world being a
minefield of shady promoters, fake review sites and people promoting stuff on
their sites just for a bit of cash in return. Hell, even the likes of
WordPress used to do this with the 'recommended hosting companies' on their
official site.

But yeah, I think the only solution is to drastically increase the resources
given to organisations like the FTC and ramp up the fines enough that even a
millionaire influencer doesn't feel it's worth lying to their audience.

~~~
Digory
The other solution to under-enforcement is giving a private right of action to
individuals and their lawyers.

I realize people hate to feed and clothe lawyers, but a few class-action
suits, and this problem would dry up.

~~~
olliej
Yeah but you have to be able to afford the lawsuit in the first place -
similar to patent trolls a lot are relying on it not being affordable to do
anything to them.

And a bunch are naive teenagers who just don’t know that they should be
disclosing it.

