Taiwan To Fine Bloggers For False Advertising

Hah! Could you imagine if there was a law like this in the U.S.?

Taiwan on Tuesday passed a law which will fine bloggers who make false claims or exaggerate on behalf of products and companies as the number of consumer disputes soars. Under the revised fair trade law passed by the parliament, bloggers and other reviewers could be fined up to ten times the payment they receive for false advertising, officials said.

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Under a different law, a woman was recently ordered to pay a noodle shop Tw$200,000 for calling its food "really bad" on her blog.

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Somehow I am not suprised wonder how long tell we start that.

Paid product bloggers would cease to exist were hyperbole and embellishment no longer the norm.

I can think of an example other then blogs, call it infomercial reports. Antivirus companies seem to do it a lot and so do other companies selling products without paying a dime for advertising. All they need is for some reporter to publish it.
Example: A report just published by (Any Company) says that theirs a new trogen or virus making the rounds that will grind your computer to a stop. The (Any Company) recommends you update your virus scanner as soon as possible etc etc.
After you read the report count how many times the company is mentioned. Talk about free advertisements all in the name of a report or a news item.

Could you imagine if there was a law like this in the U.S.?

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I thought they already had laws involving this, where if you're given a product or money from any company you're reviewing you need to state that (FCC rule), whether you're a legit review site or a blogger (really what's the difference).

Oh and there have been cases where bloggers got slapped with libel lawsuits for what they wrote.

Maybe I dont understand what a blogger is. When I think of bloggers I think of people that just put their thoughts out there, like maybe those people on Youtube like Ray Williams (or whatever) or SXEPhil*. If someone is getting paid directly to put work out, doesn't that make more freelance journalists?

*I know some Youtube people are paid for being on Youtube, but they are not being paid specifically for the content they are being thrown a bone for the viewers they bring in to Youtube.

And I agree about informercials. I work nights and sometimes see them on lunch break and almost everyone I google with the word "scam" added to the end and almost every time countless threads and reviews come up warning people about the item or service.

sfsuphysics said:

I thought they already had laws involving this, where if you're given a product or money from any company you're reviewing you need to state that (FCC rule), whether you're a legit review site or a blogger (really what's the difference).

Oh and there have been cases where bloggers got slapped with libel lawsuits for what they wrote.

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Although they're trying mightily to get around it, the FCC has no jurisdiction on the Internet.

Can we give Taiwan jurisdiction over Congress?

TwistedAegis said:

Can we give Taiwan jurisdiction over Congress?

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OBOYHEREWEGO.

Being in-situ, it makes me put up the 'not sure if troll' over this... Taiwanese is every bit as deadlocked as the Americans politically, cept replace liberal vs conservative with sovereignists vs nationalists...

Our office receptionist had a side job where she would write phony reviews praising products she had never used on tons of websites. I dont know if it extended into "blogging" per se, but it still annoyed me that she pollutes review boards with misinformation.

Reimu said:

OBOYHEREWEGO.

Being in-situ, it makes me put up the 'not sure if troll' over this... Taiwanese is every bit as deadlocked as the Americans politically, cept replace liberal vs conservative with sovereignists vs nationalists...

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Was a joke...too bad we can't fine Congresspersons for "false advertising."