For awhile now the FCC has been coming down on American celebrities who will endorse products on social media without actually letting it be known they are paid product endorsements. I mean sure most people are smart enough to figure out that if Kim Karshashian suddenly starts taking selfies with some product (any product for or service at all) and telling you how much she loves it, she is getting paid to do so.
The US government wants celebs or social media influencers to tag all sponsored posts as #ad or #sponsored.
Turns out there is a good reason for the rule, and former porn star Sunny Leone is finding out the hard way.
The Indian government wants celebs to be held liable for the brands they endorse and if it's a scam that means the celeb could actually go to jail.
Sunny Leone promoted a company that duped over 8,000 in a Ponzi scheme involving Bitcoin mining fims.
A Pune-based businessman, named Bhardwaj was arrested six months ago from the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi.
Bhardwaj founded a series of Bitcoin mining firms such as Gain Bitcoin, GB Miners, and MCAP, promising a 10 times return for investors. He had lured people to invest in bitcoins for 18 months.
Bhardwaj was arrested in April by Indian police and has been under custody since then. After interrogating him, police is now reportedly questioning people associated with him and his companies.
The Enforcement Directorate in India is now questioning all the celebs who promoted the Bitcoin mining companies at events, including Sunny Leone.
None of the celebrities have been indicted in the scam so far, but they could be.
This is not the first time that celebrities are getting in trouble for promoting cryptocurrency projects or initial coin offerings (ICOs) that prove to be fraudulent — Floyd Mayweather, DJ Khaled, and Steven Seagal have all been there. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) even issued a warning against celebrity-backed ICOs last December, noting that such sponsored endorsements are illegal if the celebrity fails to disclose their relationship (or stake) with the cryptocurrency.
What do you think? Should celebs be held legally liable for the products or brands they endorse?