FTC Concerned (Again) By Search Engine Ad Placement

from the then-do-something-about-it... dept

A year and a half ago, the FTC sent nastygrams to many search engines complaining that they weren't clearly labeling "paid inclusion" results, where companies pay per click. However, most of the search engines didn't do a damn thing. In fact, many have gone in the other direction, and made the paid inclusion results even more integrated with the regular results - and even doing things that sound vaguely like extortion, as companies that don't buy ads find their own sites suddenly drop down the rankings. So, now, the FTC is shaking their finger, yet again, and saying they're concerned about paid inclusion ads and might (uh oh) have to send out nastygrams a second time. You can just see the search engines shaking in fear, can't you?.

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