Next month the UK goes live with their Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act, which outs the brakes on anonymous web posting to support brands. Creating blogs or commenting without disclosing that the writers are the brand, the agency or someone paid by them becomes illegal.

Good!

I get the occasional astroturfing comment, from people who seem to be spouting the official line and I try and call them out. I’m also aware that some of the stuff I publish is ‘exclusive, from PR companies that have developed a relationship with me - which usually means I’ve published stuff they’ve sent me and not been disparaging about it ;) I’m aware that I need to be careful about disclosure and sources, making it clear where I’m getting information if not from another site.

Niall Cook comments that some industry people think this means blogger outreach has to stop. I agree that this is ridiculous, it’s an incorrect reading of the Act. What becomes illegal is someone sending me an email about something, praising it up and failing to disclaim that they are acting on behalf of the brand, or someone commenting on a blog about a product again without failing to disclose. But this only applies to British companies, not to others - but it does mean that even though this blog is on a Canadian companys platform if a British company does illegal comments on here they could still be prosecuted.

It’s all back to ‘respect the consumer’. Go out and comment, just say who you are. If you do it honestly and don’t try and shill the product, then readers tend to trust you.

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