FTC Updates Search Engine Disclosure Guidelines

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has sent letters to two dozen search engine companies, warning them that failure to distinguish advertising from natural search results could be a deceptive practice. The letters note that in recent years, paid search results have become less distinguishable as advertising, and the FTC is urging the search industry to make sure the distinction is clear. The letters were sent to what the FTC considered the primary general-purpose search engines, including AOL, Ask.com, Bing, Blekko, DuckDuckGo, Google, and Yahoo. They also sent out letters to 17 other search engines that specialize in specific market areas of shopping, travel, and local businesses that also display advertising.