Warner Bros. Settles With FTC After Failing To Fully Disclose Sponsored Videos With PewDiePie, Others

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, announced that it has reached a settlement with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment after the company was charged with paying influencers — including YouTube’s most subscribed star, PewDiePie — thousands of dollars to promote a video game without properly disclosing that it had done so. The case revolves around a sponsored campaign for the XBox and Playstation game Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor — which is loosely based on The Lord Of The Rings franchise — that amassed a total of 5.5 million impressions on social media, according to the FTC.

According to the initial complaint, Warner Bros. paid influencers betweens tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars — each — through its advertising agency Plaid Social Labs to promote Middle Earth with YouTube videos that were also to be shared on Facebook and Twitter. PewDiePie’s video alone accounted for 3.7 million of the campaign’s 5.5 million total views.

While participants were instructed to speak positively about the game and not disclose any bugs or glitches, according to the complaint, Warner Bros. only required influencers to disclose the sponsorship in the down-bar below the YouTube video as opposed to stating so clearly within the video itself. This was deemed inadequate.

As part of the settlement, Warner Bros. is “barred from failing to make such disclosures in the future and cannot misrepresent that sponsored content, including gameplay videos, are the objective, independent opinions of video game enthusiasts or influencers,” the FTC wrote in a release. Added Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection: “Consumers have the right to know if reviewers are providing their own opinions or paid sales pitches. Companies like Warner Brothers need to be straight with consumers in their online ad campaigns.”

In a statement, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment told Variety that it “always strives to be transparent with our customers and fans when working with social influencers, and we are committed to complying with the related FTC guidelines.”