Nutra Ingredients Interviews Manatt Partner on FDA's Close Watch on Social Media Pages
"Be Careful What You 'Like' . . . The FDA Is Looking At Your Facebook Page"
Nutra Ingredients
April 4, 2013 - Nutra Ingredients interviewed Manatt's Ivan Wasserman, a partner in the firm's Advertising, Marketing & Media Division, on the Federal Drug Administration's scrutiny of supplement makers' social media pages.
As reported by Nutra Ingredients, FDA recently sent warning letters to supplement makers regarding their social media activities. One letter to AMARC Enterprises scrutinized the company for "liking" a testimonial posted by a consumer on its Facebook page. As the posting amounted to an unauthorized drug-claim and AMARC had effectively endorsed it by "liking" the post, the FDA listed this as an example of the company promoting their product as a drug rather than a dietary supplement. The FDA also disapproved of AMARC putting a link on its Facebook page to a blog article by a third party.
Wasserman said that this was the first time he had seen the FDA mention "liking" third-party claims on Facebook. "FDA has previously cited companies for claims they made on their Facebook pages, but I believe this is the first time a company was cited for claims posted on Facebook by a third person, and it appears that FDA's position is by 'liking' it the company in a way adopted the claim as its own."
He added, "I think that FDA will continue to scrutinize supplement companies' social media activities, and companies are well advised to not only understand the rules of the road, but also have the right social media policies and procedures in place. While traditional advertising and labeling will typically go through several layers of review before being released, without the right procedures in place a social media post, tweet, or like may be made by someone without any internal review, can that can have serious consequences."
Read the article here.