Another action in a string of “fake news” cases has the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charging a Web site operator with duping consumers with fictional articles.   As someone actively monitoring various news sources, the tagline grabbed my attention.  I have commented in the past that if I ever have a spare day I intend to further research web hosting companies that appear to generate an endless stream of news, press releases, and awards.

This particular press release concerned a Boris Mizhen out of Guilford, Conn., who allegedly operated a website hawking weight-loss supplement. Mizhen's affiliate marketers, would create fake news sites and then post articles that appeared to be objective reports. The FTC filed a complaint last month in federal district court in Connecticut alleging the scam.

In addition to duping people with fake news sites, Mizhen and his companies allegedly trick consumers by offering free trials to anyone willing to pay $5 mailing costs, instead then sending regular shipments at a cost of around $80 a month.

“Defendants made it very difficult for consumers to cancel these  "negative-option" continuity plans to avoid recurring charges or redeem promised money-back guarantees. Consumers apparently had great difficulty reaching a live person when they tried to cancel or request a refund,” the FTC says in its complaint.

Fake News

Fake news, as a tool of unscrupulous marketers dates back to classical times. It could invokes notions of traveling medicine shows, and 'doctors' peddling miracle snake oil cures! The use of a 'plant' in the audience, who was then pulled on stage to 'prove' that the mystery elixir cured all ailments, was common. In more modern times, late night infomercials used similar tactics to milk chronic suffers of insomnia with tales of fortune, gain, slim bodies and long life.

As the web began to siphon market share, a growing number of traditional “mainstream” media outlet resorted to slipping corporate-sponsored "video news releases" or VNRs — promotional segments designed to look like objective news reports — into their regular news programming. (This deception is illegal under FCC rules).

The wild west of the world wide web promised to be a Madison avenue's marketer wet dream, and the reality of the fantasy was not overstated. Mega millionaire were created everywhere! As the web evolved, the low entry bar and costs, created an unforeseen issue. The issue of being seen!

Within the traditional concepts of sales leads, direct marketing pitches, and promotional philosophy, new buzz words began to emerge as marketers reorientated themselves in the highly competitive, and crowded digital market place. Words like Behavioral or targeted marketing, Reputation Management, Online Visibility, Black and White Hat SEO, as well as keywords, and meta tags among others, became commonplace.

The issue of being seen!

The webhosting and tech industry faces many of the same obstacles faced by a billion other  web sites. Increasing and/or retaining market share requires a combination of online visibility, and reputation management. A reputable service and timely support also help, but as HJ reviews attest, some web hosts see these attributes as optional.

In a quest for SEO (search engine optimization is for another post … or two), some web hosts make almost daily announcements of additional new features, services, a website redesign, or going green!

Then there are the 'new appointment of so and so' with a job title that means little else. One is forced to wonder whether these hosting company are management top heavy, or the work environment is so toxic that they've installed revolving doors so the door doesn't hit them in the butt when they leave!

But is it Fake News

Some companies have won so many awards that they have more blingage than a hip hop rapper. Is it really meaningful to be one of the top 25 hosts in November from a site with a page rank of zero, that you can nominate your own company on?

Or a press release from a fake review site announcing the #1 Best Host for December:

The team at Redacted review site  has used the web hosting service of many of the companies they review; they take that experience and combine it with the reviews that others leave about the web hosting companies, and choose a Host of the Month.

There are a number of things to look for in the search for the best web hosting providers. When reading Redacted xyz company reviews some of the things the reviews talk about are the overall feature set, the uptime, and the customer service. Most of the best web hosting providers offer all the same basic web hosting features.

A webmaster that knows exactly what he/she will need for each site will want to verify that the host he/she chooses has the specific features that are needed; but for those that are new to web hosting, a plan like the one offered by Redacted xyz company will be more than adequate.

This same xyz company mentioned has uptime and support both rated at 8 out of a possible 100 score on HostJury.  Maybe HostJury just gets the disgruntled reviewers...

The FTC revised Guideline reflect three basic truth-in-advertising principles:
- Endorsements must be truthful and not misleading;
- If the advertiser doesn’t have proof that the endorser’s experience represents what consumers will achieve by using the product, the ad must clearly and conspicuously disclose the generally expected results in the depicted circumstances; and
- If there’s a connection between the endorser and the marketer of the product that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, it should be disclosed.

The guidelines go onto state that there is no fine for not complying with an FTC guide, and that the FTC is not actively monitoring blogs, nor do they have any plans to do so.

Is Fake News Always Fake?

One media outlet reported on the rash of complaints against a website operation, and later was shocked  to find out its own news cast was being used to promote the very site it was investigating. When the reporter went to the website homepage, she found a link to a video montage of heavily edited news reports including a clip from their report. "Left out of the butchered version was information about the difficulty of winning a hot item."

And what about the Mizhen. Well his activities may have been curtailed but...

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