FTC Compliance

Internet Marketing and Compliance

We understand your objective as an internet marketer: to convert website visitors into paying customers. However, the decisions you make to improve conversion rate (such as exaggerating product benefits, using trials or recurring billing, and incentivizing positive consumer reviews) may render your advertising non-compliant with the FTC and state laws protecting consumers.

Violating FTC guidelines risks a potentially crushing enforcement action by the FTC, but the implementation of thorough preventative measures can help avoid government regulator attention in the first place.

Want to learn more? Review our free attorney-authored resource The Essential Guide to FTC Compliance, Investigations, and Enforcement.

FTC Enforcement Actions

Most FTC enforcement traces back to one of two legal theories: a practice is "unfair," or it is "deceptive." Both terms sound simple, but the agency has spent decades building out exactly what they mean in practice, and the list of behaviors that can trigger a case keeps growing. Below are the enforcement areas generating the most activity right now, along with the specific advertising practices most likely to draw scrutiny.

The FTC's Three-Part Deception Test

Every deceptive advertising case is initiated via the same framework, laid out in the FTC's 1983 Policy Statement on Deception. A representation, omission, or practice is deceptive if it's likely to mislead a reasonable consumer acting under the circumstances, and that misleading impression is material, meaning it's likely to affect a purchase decision. Notably, what's missing from that test is intent. A company doesn't need to know its ad is misleading for the FTC to call it illegal. What matters is the "net impression," the overall takeaway a reasonable consumer walks away with after seeing the headline, the images, the testimonials, and the fine print all at once. For a deeper breakdown of how this test works in practice, see our FTC Deceptive Advertising Compliance Guide for Businesses.

Want to learn more? Review our free attorney-authored resource Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Civil Investigative Demands

Common Types of Deceptive Advertising the FTC Pursues

Many of the FTC’s enforcement actions relate to “unfair” or “deceptive” advertising, and to the violation of privacy rights, but some advertising practices almost always will draw FTC attention. Some of the FTC's main focuses in 2025 have been on deceptive pricing,  payment & tech‑support processing, misleading AI claims, and children's data privacy. If your marketing involves any of the tactics below, your substantiation file needs to be airtight before the ad ever runs.

Type of Claim	Why It Draws FTC Scrutiny
Unsubstantiated before-and-after and performance claims	A dramatic transformation photo is powerful marketing, but if it isn't representative of what a typical consumer experiences, a "results not typical" disclaimer buried in small text may not be sufficient.
Fake or manipulated testimonials and reviews	Under the FTC's Endorsement Guides and its 2024 Review Rule, testimonials must reflect a genuine experience, paid endorsements must be clearly disclosed, and manufacturing, buying, or suppressing reviews is flatly prohibited. Learn more directly from the FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking.
Earnings and income claims	Promising consumers they can "earn $10,000 a month" without evidence reflecting what a typical participant actually makes is one of the agency's most heavily litigated categories.
Health and safety claims	Any claim that a product treats, prevents, cures, or supports a health condition needs competent and reliable scientific evidence behind it, not customer anecdotes or vague "clinically studied ingredient" language.
"Free," discount, and subscription claims	Offers that use words like "free," "risk-free," or "guaranteed" while quietly enrolling customers in recurring billing are a frequent source of FTC negative option and "dark pattern" cases.
AI-hyped marketing claims	Unsupported claims about what an AI tool can do (generate guaranteed income, replace a professional service, automate compliance) draw extra scrutiny.
Country-of-origin claims, most notably "Made in USA"	An unqualified "Made in USA" claim still requires that a product's final assembly, significant parts, and processing are "all or virtually all" of U.S. origin, per the FTC's Made in USA Rule.

FTC Regulatory Compliance Services

Navigating FTC compliance requirements and developments can be daunting for businesses of any size. An experienced FTC compliance lawyer at Kronenberger Rosenfeld can help create custom compliance programs, including:

• Reviewing sales pages and so-called “sales funnels” to comply with the FTC regulations;
• Reviewing overall business models for legal compliance and recommending shifts in business strategy to minimize legal risks;
• Reviewing marketing copy and business models involving the dissemination of consumer records for compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA);
• Reviewing email marketing campaigns for compliance with the federal CAN-SPAM Act;
• Reviewing SMS marketing campaigns for compliance with the TCPA and the FTC Act;
• Reviewing business practices for compliance with privacy laws and regulations, including COPPA and mobile privacy regulations;
• Reviewing marketing materials for those selling nutraceuticals, due to overlapping FTC/FDA jurisdiction;
• Advising on complying with the FTC endorsement guidelines regarding testimonials and other web or social media content that may be deemed an endorsement; and
• Reviewing social media and influencer advertiser campaigns for compliance with FTC disclosure regulations.

When should a company seek FTC advertising compliance review?

Businesses should seek FTC compliance review before launching campaigns that include performance claims, AI claims, health claims, endorsements, consumer reviews, privacy promises, or personalized pricing.

FTC and Governmental Compliance Attorneys

For more than a decade, our firm has dealt with a wide variety of government compliance issues for many types of internet business activity. Clients seek advice from us due to our experience in limiting risk to the lowest possible level while maintaining their profitability. The FTC defense lawyers at Kronenberger Rosenfeld have also published The Essential Guide to FTC Compliance, Investigations, and Enforcement, which is a helpful resource for both companies and attorneys.

If you need help in complying with government regulations, please call us at 415-955-1155, ext. 120. You may also submit your matter to us in our online case submission form.