Blogger Disclosure

I guess sooner or later the law is catching up on cyberspace. From my own opinion and perception, such policy was only brought up as MDA wants more control, and IRA wants to tax us twice instead of once a year. Well that’s just me lah.

I myself disclose if I do receive remuneration for my blog posting, but I know many bloggers out there who don’t. So there’s an issues of transparency with their entries.

All I can say, in cyberspace you can play hide and seek all you want without getting caught, even with such policy in place, it’s really up to the individual blogger if they want to disclose.

Bloggers who get gifts or money may have to own up

By Chua Hian Hou from Straits Times

BLOGGERS and users of other new media may soon have to say so upfront if they receive gifts or money for their write-ups.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) has said it is looking at stricter disclosure rules.

Its deputy director for development policy, Ms Yuvarani Thangavelu, says such regulations will protect consumers by enabling them to make an informed assessment about what they read.

She did not give a timeframe for when such rules would kick in; neither did she reveal the likely penalties for flouting them, nor how they would be enforced.

Just last week, it was announced in the United States that from Dec1, bloggers will have to make ‘clear and conspicuous’ disclosures if, for example, they write a restaurant review after having been treated to a feast there.

The penalty for flouting this rule in blogs or postings in Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube: A fine of US$11,000 (S$15,360).

The Straits Times understands that beauty product companies are suspected of having paid a female blogger here on two occasions to write glowingly about their products.

Consumers Association of Singapore executive director Seah Seng Choon said disclosure regulations would enable consumers to distinguish between advertorials and genuine reviews.

Like him, digital influence consultant with public relations firm Ogilvy, Ms Tania Chew, said she also favoured greater transparency. She has been increasingly worried over companies here ‘basically buying coverage from bloggers who only want to make a quick buck’.

The publications of Singapore Press Holdings have, for example, followed some rules of thumb for the reviews they publish: Its journalists have traditionally been required to return the items offered for review, and articles which advertisers pay to have written up are clearly labelled as advertorials.

To be fair, a number of bloggers here are already abiding by higher standards of ethics than are currently required.

Stomp Star Blogger and Xbox ambassador Shen Qiaoyun, for instance, states upfront when she is paid to endorse a brand or when she receives a free product or service to try out.

‘My fans deserve such transparency,’ she said.

She is concerned, however, that these proposed regulations may give the impression that blogs are commercial, and have strayed from their original aim of being the voice of an individual.

But Samsung spokesman Daniel Goh says the credibility of social media will rise if the players play by the disclosure rules.

Food blogger Leslie Tay agrees.

‘Honesty is the best policy. It’s up to readers whether they want to read it and how they take it, but bloggers should always declare conflicts of interest upfront.’

He makes it a practice in his food reviews to state upfront whether he paid for the meal.

Those who were interviewed pointed out that the disclosure rules may not address other conflict-of-interest issues – such as a financial blogger who praises a company in which he is heavily invested, for example, to raise its share price and enrich himself.

The MDA’s Ms Thangavelu says that in the borderless Internet, regulations are limited in their effectiveness, so members of the public still have to be discerning of claims they come across in online reviews.