The $10M wake up call for brands using influencers...

Hey all,

It’s easy to shrug off the FTC’s new $43K fine per non-compliant influencer post as another empty threat.

🚨 CarShield thought that too. It cost them $10M—and counting. 🚨

In 2024, the FTC went after CarShield for fake celebrity and customer endorsements, citing ads where Ice-T and Ric Flair claimed they used CarShield when, according to the FTC, they weren’t even customers.

This case shatters some of the biggest assumptions about FTC enforcement:

🚨 Myth #1: “Celebrities endorse products all the time. Everyone knows they’re paid. It’s never enforced.”

• 💡 Reality: The FTC cracks down when celebrities fake personal use. CarShield learned that the hard way.

• Another example: In 2018, Google Pixel ran radio ads where hosts raved about how much they loved the phone 👉 except Google never even sent them the devices. The FTC cracked down.

🚨 Myth #2: “This was just a general fraud case. Endorsement violations weren’t the real issue.”

• 💡 Reality: Wrong. While CarShield faced multiple FTC allegations, the endorsement violations were explicitly named. 👉 This isn’t a one off. The FTC has enforced endorsement rules in plenty of other cases.

🚨 Myth #3: “How would the FTC even know if a celebrity or influencer didn’t actually use a product?”

• 💡 Reality: There are plenty of ways

  • Disgruntled employees spill the truth

  • Creators call out shady brand deals

  • Competitors expose inconsistencies (ie: “1 week transformations” when the product takes 6 weeks to work)

  • 👉The FTC doesn’t need to catch everything. Just enough to make an example out of brands who assume they won’t get caught.

🚨 Myth #4: “Lying about a 1-week transformation is fraud. But saying ‘I drink Pepsi’ when I like Coke isn’t a big deal.”

• 💡 Reality: Both violate the FTC’s requirement for honest experiences. 👉 One might be more blatant, but the FTC has shown it will enforce against both.

The bigger picture: compliance can’t be a “wait and see” approach anymore.

Until now, advertisers handled influencer compliance like this:

1. Sign contracts
2. Add #ad post disclosures
3. Un-publish problematic posts (worst case scenario)

That worked—until the rules changed.

Now every influencer post is a potential $43K+ liability.

That’s why the smartest advertisers aren’t waiting to get caught.

For SwayID customers that looks like:

—Fixing risks before publishing posts with our AI Content Checker and Corrector tool
—Training creators & teams with our out-of-the-box creator compliance lessons
—Staying audit-ready with always-on evidence gathering and documentation
—Getting dedicated compliance support from specialists

Kaeya