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YouTubers have to declare ads. Why doesn't anyone else?

YouTubers have to declare ads. Why doesn't anyone else? on HackerTube: recommended by 6 Hacker News commenters across 4 separate months, 2021–2024.

Tom Scott

explainer · dated

Open on YouTube

Tom Scott examines why YouTubers must declare paid endorsements while TV, film and other media face no such rule, comparing regulations in the UK and US.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN cites it as a clear explainer on sponsorship and ad disclosure rules and their inconsistency across media.

people recommended it
6
separate months
4
strong recommendations
0
discussed on HN
2021–2024
“Tom Scott has a great video on the inconsistency that online influencers and youtubers have to declare ads/product-placements while traditional media does not.”
— Pxtl, Sep 2021, in “Paid influencers must label some posts as ads, German court rules”

What HN commenters said

10 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

xmprtApr 2024Recommends

There's only so much money you can make off of banner ads and at a certain point native advertisements are way more lucrative. I wonder how they get around disclosure requirements but I guess it's probably because the articles are never directly funded but there's some other form of compensation in the backend. Tom Scott made an interesting video about internet advertising regulations a while back. [1] [1]: ▶ this video

in “A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing” · View on HN

cowlApr 2023Recommends

> not enough context, maybe > Probably some corporate compliance drones and underfunded government stooges. Youtube alone has 720,000 hours of fresh video content per day Tiktok must have less number of hours but more Videos per day. Add Instagram, facebook, Twitter and it's impossible for anyone to verify this manually so in the end how is the platform supposed to decide what to show and what not where the "not enough context, maybe" is the most common answer? > Is product placement in movie an ad? > yes, clearly not so clearly even in this case. see ▶ this video , a very nice recap of what an ad is.

in “The Case for Banning Children from Social Media” · View on HN

hnbadMar 2023Recommends

FWIW the UK also has fairly strict laws about this (possibly stricter than Germany). Tom Scott once did a good video about this: ▶ this video German streamers also ran into a separate issue with German broadcasting regulations when they tried to run a 24/7 streaming format. Turns out you need a broadcasting license for continuous scheduled programming like that.

in “SEC Charges Justin Sun and His Crypto Companies for Fraud” · View on HN

zinekellerSep 2021Recommends

A bit unrelated, but if you want a overview of sponsorships in different media platforms across different countries (mostly Britain and US though), I suggest watching Tom Scott's excellent video: ▶ this video . (Note that the video is ~30 minutes long. It's unfortunately that complicated, even when only talking rules mainly in two countries.)

in “Paid influencers must label some posts as ads, German court rules” · View on HN

PxtlSep 2021Recommends

On the subject, Tom Scott has a great video on the inconsistency that online influencers and youtubers have to declare ads/product-placements while traditional media does not. ▶ this video

in “Paid influencers must label some posts as ads, German court rules” · View on HN

FradowSep 2021Recommends

> Influencers are actually some of the only advertisers who aren’t well regulated in Europe, When was the last time you saw product placements being clearly labeled in TV shows/movies? For most people, the answer is "never". Just because we are used to it doesn't mean it's fair. Tom Scott explains it much better than I can: ▶ this video

in “Paid influencers must label some posts as ads, German court rules” · View on HN

Show 4 more comments
kn0whereAug 2022Cites it

I'm 90% sure Amazon paid SNL to make this ad (SNL does paid brand integration in various skits, see Tom Scott's video on product placement for other examples ▶ this video ). It's a spoof commercial where the product advertised isn't what's being made fun of. The set is unusually authentic to actual Amazon Go stores, down to the "just walk out" logo signage, and the loud and clear message of the ad is that you should stop worrying and trust Amazon. They're lampshading people's distrust of automation, especially in a liberal context of racial equity, and demonstrating that actually Keenan was really silly for thinking a computer would be racist.

in “AWS Just Walk Out Technology” · View on HN

trevcanhumanSep 2021Cites it

Yet the TV industry is still far from done with shady advertising. Very Related: YouTubers have to declare ads. Why doesn't anyone else? [0] On another note, that is like the shortest news article ever! It's literally just 102 words! [0] ▶ this video

in “Paid influencers must label some posts as ads, German court rules” · View on HN

throw14082020Feb 2021Cites it

Why don't we make it the law for reviewers to disclose incentives in the reviews/ videos, similar to how youtubers have to disclose it ▶ this video

in “Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online” · View on HN

aaron695Oct 2021Joke

Tom Scott talks about how he is fictional - ▶ this video I think the secret is out. I don't get it? Do people think Taylor Swift, Joe Biden, Ōsaka Naomi are real still? Or are we just projecting other people are that stupid to think 'media personalities' are real to make ourselves look smart?

in “What's the deal with fictional influencers?” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Law, policing & justiceProduct, marketing & salesMedia, journalism & propagandaproduct placementinfluencer regulationsponsorshiptom scottftc