Sponcon Disclosure Lessons from Teen Vogue’s Facebook Article Controversy

As the lines between journalism and advertising become increasingly blurred, media companies must be on high alert for potential pitfalls around the failure to properly disclose sponsored content. The proper characterization of content as commercial advertising, and the proper disclosure of such sponsored content, has drawn the scrutiny of both the Federal Trade Commission and the National Advertising Division in recent years. Teen Vogue’s equivocation on whether an uncritical article on Facebook’s role in the 2020 election amounted to sponsored content provides many lessons from which other media companies should learn. Earlier today, Teen Vogue published an article titled, “How Facebook Is Helping Ensure the Integrity of the 2020 Election.” The Twitterverse was set abuzz, because it seemed to be overly laudatory of Facebook and did not contain any critical questioning.  Commentators found the questions posed and the tone of the article surprising in light of Facebook’s role in the 2016 election and its recent public pronouncement regarding its approach in 2020. “Interesting pivot for Teen Vogue here to… Facebook PR?” tweeted Steven Perlberg, a freelance writer formerly with BuzzfFeed News and The Wall Street Journal, while Molly Jong-Fast of The Daily Beast described the article as “so sketchy.” Approximately an hour after it was posted, Teen Vogue added a prominent disclosure below the headline, stating, “Editor’s note: This is sponsored editorial content.” In a... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-01-09 00:40:34 UTC ]
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Martin Lewis sues Facebook over fake adverts with his name

MoneySavingExpert founder says firm failed to stop false adverts luring victims into scamsMartin Lewis, the consumer advice and money-saving expert, is suing Facebook for defamation after it published dozens of fake adverts featuring his face and name. He is seeking exemplary damages in the high... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More Facebook videos will get pre-roll ads soon

Facebook plans to try out pre-roll ads -- that is, commercials that play before videos -- in more parts of its service. This comes after it's spent months testing the format in limited places, like the Watch section. In a blog post published today, t... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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OUP Moves Up Forthcoming Book on Facebook

OUP president Niko Pfund told PW that after Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony on Capitol Hill, it became clear that Siva Vaidhyanathan's book, originall scheduled for fall, "needed to be part of the conversation" now taking place. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lessons from Putin picked up by Canongate

Vladimir Putin: Life Coach, edited by Rob Sears—who compiled the Christmas 2017 hit, The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump—has been signed by Canongate. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces tough questions on Capitol Hill

Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg faced criticism Tuesday from senators over his company’s handling of user data in a Capitol Hill hearing that could amount to a reckoning on the technology industry and its practices. “Let me just cut to the chase. If you and other social media... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #user data #capitol hill


As Facebook ignores memes, even fake news about Mark Zuckerberg spreads like wildfire

A few days ago, the Columbia Journalism Review published a thorough and frightening look into Facebook’s fact-checking program. The social network enlists organizations like Snopes and PolitiFact to scroll through thousands of contested articles and deem how factual they are. As CJR writes, the... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How digital publisher PinkNews is weaning itself off Facebook dependence

“It has been disappointing that Facebook is not the winner it used to be, but it means we have gone back to our core audience." The post How digital publisher PinkNews is weaning itself off Facebook dependence appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook says 'most people' likely had their data scraped from its platform

Facebook has announced a sweeping overhaul of its data collection rules, and revealed that most people's accounts were likely targets of "scraping" by malicious actors.Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer, on Wednesday published a blog post outlining nine areas where Facebook would focus on... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2018-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook is changing the way it stores call and text history

Facebook published a blog post today detailing the changes it has made to how it manages users' data. You can read a broader summary of that report here, but among the new changes is a tweak to how Facebook collects and stores call and text history.... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Up to 87 million Facebook users affected in privacy scandal

Facebook says as many as 87 million people may have had their data accessed in the Cambridge Analytica scandal - an increase from the 50 million disclosed in published reports. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2018-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facing a trust crisis, Facebook offers up even more context about news feed publishers

Facebook has been making attempts to restore people’s trust in what they come across in their news feeds. In the latest example, the company is rolling out new features that aim to give users more information about the publishers and stories they read. Originally conducted as a test last year,... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #give users #news feeds #facebook offers


Facebook's CEO hits back at 'glib' comments by Apple's Cook

Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg hit back against Tim Cook, calling the Apple Inc. CEO's criticism of the social-media giant "extremely glib."Cook was asked about Facebook's privacy crisis last month and called for stronger regulation of user data. A day after, Cook said he... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2018-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook rolls out news verification tools to everyone in the US

Facebook has been fighting fake news for a while now, ranking "trusted" sources and demoting "engagement bait" stories. Last October, the company began testing a feature that provided information on article publishers to help people decide which sour... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tuesday Wake-Up Call: Vogue insists Anna Wintour isn't on her way out. Plus, Grindr's under fire

Welcome to Ad Age's Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. What people are talking about today: Cond Nast and Vogue are denying a report that uber-tastemaker Anna Wintour might leave this summer. Page Six says it talked to multiple sources who say the... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2018-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Pre-Scandal Mark Zuckerberg Said Users Trusted Facebook To Protect Their Privacy

In an interview released for the first time today, the Facebook CEO discussed privacy with Freaknonomics Radio last summer. It was a simpler time. Last summer, months before Mark Zuckerberg was feeling the intense pressure of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, the Facebook CEO said he knew... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook promises to delete unpublished videos

Now that Facebook has been outed as keeping videos you've recorded but never published, the social media has promised to actually delete them. Last week, the sister of a New York Magazine writer found old videos that should have been cleaned off the... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Actually, Facebook’s big algorithm change hasn’t hurt partisan media

A few months ago Facebook implemented a big change in its algorithm that impacted what kind of content it would surface to users. In a move that sent shivers down the spines of media professionals, Facebook said it would de-prioritize publisher content in favor of posts between connections. For... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Leaked Facebook memo: 'ugly truth' justified any growth tactics

Buzzfeed has published an internal Facebook memo entitled "The Ugly" from 2016 that shows just how much emphasis the social network places on growth above safety, privacy and everything else. Written by Facebook VP Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, one of Mark... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Weather Co. goes all-in on 'Taboola Feed,' a Facebook Newsfeed clone

IBM-owned The Weather Company says it's going all-in on Taboola Feed, which mimics the look and feel of Facebook's News Feed, the publication said Thursday, making it perhaps the largest publisher to adopt the format.Like Facebook's News Feed, Taboola Feed is an infinite scroll that surfaces... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2018-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #thousand impressions #infinite scroll #largest publisher #weather company