- Petition to Chairman Bill Kovacic and Commissioners Pamela Jones Harbour, Tom Rosch and Jon Leibowitz calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the practice of bait & click in sponsored links and stop scads once and for all.
- Search engines are an invaluable resource and have become an integral part of our daily lives. The dependence on search has fostered a sense of resignation about recognizing and questioning its shortcomings - but that has got to change.
- Search engine advertising policies allow companies to buy the names of brands they aren't affiliated with and don't have the authority to use. This policy allows companies to misrepresent themselves in sponsored search results, often making outrageous and unsubstantiated claims. In many cases, these ads don't even sell the products they advertise.
- This practice - 'bait & click' - would never fly offline, but it flourishes online because search engines allow it and profit from it. The resulting scam ads (or "scads") are confusing to internet users and expose them to serious risks like fraud, spam and viruses.
We, the undersigned, call upon the Federal Trade Commission
to safeguard the consumer search experience by:
to safeguard the consumer search experience by:
- Investigating this practice - and the search engines and deceptive marketers who profit from it; and
- Supporting regulations requiring search engines to use tighter filters and ensure that sponsored links offer the products advertised and accurately represent the company and or brand found on the landing site.
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Petition
