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March 11, 2025

Proposed bill would stop businesses from paying for ‘reviews’

Contributed The Foundry, a new restaurant in downtown Hartford, launched with the help of publicity from social media influencers. The restaurant did not pay them.
By Andrew Larson

The state legislature’s Joint Committee on General Law has scheduled a public hearing Wednesday on a proposed bill that would impose limits on how businesses can compensate people who review their products and services.

HB 5560, “An Act Prohibiting Certain Conduct Concerning Reviews of Businesses, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services,” was introduced by the General Law Committee and sponsored by Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden.

Among other things, it would prohibit businesses from providing compensation or incentives to an individual in exchange for “writing a consumer review that expresses a particular sentiment, whether positive or negative, regarding the business, consumer good or consumer service that is the subject of the consumer review."

Also, it would be a violation for a business to "write, give or sell a consumer review, consumer testimonial or celebrity testimonial that materially misrepresents, expressly or implicitly ... the reviewer's or testimonialist's experience with the business..."

The bill classifies such activities as unfair trade practices under subsection (a) of section 42-110b of the general statutes.

The proposed legislation comes as businesses are increasingly using social media influencers to help promote their products and services.

The Federal Trade Commission already requires paid social media content to be labelled as “#sponsored” or “#ad.”

It’s unclear what effect the proposed legislation would have on sponsored social media content.

Stephanie Webster, founder of the restaurant review website and social media brand CT Bites, said: “As long as content is marked as ‘sponsored,’ or compensation is disclosed, we are making it clear to the public that the opinions may be biased.”

“The issue really is when content creators, and this happens every day … in fact, every hour … accept money or in-kind compensation without full disclosure.” 

Webster believes it would be difficult to prohibit businesses from forming paid partnerships with social media influencers.

“It would make it impossible for platforms to do their jobs in terms of promoting businesses,” she said. 

BJ Kito, chief strategy officer at Cheshire-based marketing firm Rebellion Group, said he had concerns about the proposed bill, too.

"HB 5560 could disrupt businesses paying for sentiment-driven #sponsored content, even if tagged as such," Kito said. "Section 2(a)(4)’s broad ban on ‘any compensation’ tied to a ‘particular sentiment’ doesn’t explicitly spare disclosed posts, suggesting a labeled endorsement could still breach the rules if it implies a specific tone."

He continued: "The bill’s lack of clarity on disclosure as a defense compounds the issue. Further, Section 1’s ‘celebrity’ — a ‘well-known individual’ — and ‘social media influence,’ tied to undefined ‘metrics’ like followers or likes, leave too much gray area. Does 10,000 followers count? 100,000? It’s unclear. Influencer marketing, a $16 billion industry, risks being hampered by technicalities rather than outright deceit. Wednesday’s hearing needs to address these gaps to avoid unintended consequences for businesses aiming to comply."

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