Bloggers will no longer be able to claim free merchandise or money for their services, suggests a recent US report. As a blogger myself I think it’s really unfair for people who make a living from their blog. Many bloggers don’t get paid for their hard work and if they’re not legally allowed to accept freebies, then really what is the point?
BNTL is one of the UK’s biggest blog sites. They host quite a lot of advertising. CEO of BNTL, Matt Benson told us, “It seems typical of America to enforce such a law. I can understand that perhaps they have done it to re-stabilise their economy with advertising margins being cut in half and big companies not having such a monopoly on advertising revenue, everyday bloggers can be earning money for a much cheaper expense to the advertising company,” says Matt.
“Brands have seen a big sway in advertising power from TV, printed media etc and now the general public are having more frequent access to the Internet than the aforementioned mediums. I’m not sure how they could restrict bloggers obtaining free things though, as surely that’s not declared and if they enforced it in the UK, BNTL would just become a website the next day, with an advert free blog section, transactions would remain company to company and it would just be seen as web advertising which couldn’t possibly be made illegal, it’s much too lucrative.”
I highly doubt such a law would ever work in the UK. Us British folk like a good moan and when enough of us don’t want something to happen, it usualy doesn’t. Well, some things.
By Joseph Patterson
This also appeared over at MTV Sticky: HERE