FTC Goes After Affiliate / CPA Marketers
After taking down Copeac the FTC just went after another affiliate / CPA network ads4dough. Story here:
FTC Charges Second "Affiliate Network" of Internet Advertisers with Deceiving Consumers by Using Fake News Sites to Market **** Berry Weight-Loss Products and Colon Cleansers
In short: affiliates sign up and commit fraud by making false claims and using fake news sites. Affiliate disclosures are not made, and affiliates do not disclose merchant practices such as recurring billing.
Instead of pursuing affiliates 1 by 1 and trying to play Whac-a-Mole, the FTC goes after the entire affiliate network and accuses it of failing to monitor affiliate activities and pre-approving their advertising.
Typically, IMHO, an affiliate network is not responsible for monitoring and pre-approving the advertising of affiliates who are independent contractors. But, if you have been reading my posts the last few years you know this is the direction the FTC is trying to force, and the FTC knows it has massive leverage. Even Google has paid out millions.
So what does this all mean?
- Affiliate / CPA networks will demand more identifying information before approving affiliates.
- It will become harder to be approved as an affiliate.
- Affiliate promotions and creative advertising become more limited. Sometimes pre-approval may be required.
- Faster terminations for any rule violation, even minor mistakes.
- Fewer affiliate opportunities for affiliates from certain countries.
- Increased network administrative costs mean reduced affiliate payments.
At the end of the day, the affiliate network will not want to jeopardize its business and relationship with merchants because of affiliates.
Ironically, here is a short interview from 4 years ago by Shoemoney with the owner of ads4dough talking about massive fraud problems with affiliates and network attempts to combat the problem.
Ads4dough - BlackHat SEO To Affiliate Network CEO - Interview With Ads4dough Owner Jason Akatiff - ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Blog
.
FTC Charges Second "Affiliate Network" of Internet Advertisers with Deceiving Consumers by Using Fake News Sites to Market **** Berry Weight-Loss Products and Colon Cleansers
In short: affiliates sign up and commit fraud by making false claims and using fake news sites. Affiliate disclosures are not made, and affiliates do not disclose merchant practices such as recurring billing.
Instead of pursuing affiliates 1 by 1 and trying to play Whac-a-Mole, the FTC goes after the entire affiliate network and accuses it of failing to monitor affiliate activities and pre-approving their advertising.
Typically, IMHO, an affiliate network is not responsible for monitoring and pre-approving the advertising of affiliates who are independent contractors. But, if you have been reading my posts the last few years you know this is the direction the FTC is trying to force, and the FTC knows it has massive leverage. Even Google has paid out millions.
So what does this all mean?
- Affiliate / CPA networks will demand more identifying information before approving affiliates.
- It will become harder to be approved as an affiliate.
- Affiliate promotions and creative advertising become more limited. Sometimes pre-approval may be required.
- Faster terminations for any rule violation, even minor mistakes.
- Fewer affiliate opportunities for affiliates from certain countries.
- Increased network administrative costs mean reduced affiliate payments.
At the end of the day, the affiliate network will not want to jeopardize its business and relationship with merchants because of affiliates.
Ironically, here is a short interview from 4 years ago by Shoemoney with the owner of ads4dough talking about massive fraud problems with affiliates and network attempts to combat the problem.
Ads4dough - BlackHat SEO To Affiliate Network CEO - Interview With Ads4dough Owner Jason Akatiff - ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Blog
.
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