> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.fdaweb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# FDA, FTC Should Regulate ‘Influencer’ Posts: Column
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-ftc-should-regulate-influencer-posts-column/
- Published: 2024-01-23T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T14:20:56.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5156195

Two Generation Patient executives and a Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice professor say FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) need to develop and clarify regulations to protect patients from potential harm and misleading information on social media platforms, particularly from influencers. Writing in a *StatNews* post, the three say “influencers with no medical or pharmaceutical training regularly use these platforms to promote prescription drugs…. \[S\]imply disclosing that something is sponsored is not enough.”

The post reports that FDA and the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy found in 2021 that adolescents and those with chronic conditions are especially vulnerable to pharmaceutical social media direct-to-consumer advertising. “This susceptibility and the lack of oversight for such ads could have adverse health consequences, especially for young adult patients,” the authors write.

The post says FDA needs to work with the FTC to come up with clear guidelines about what influencers can say, and how they say it, about prescription drugs, and not just in widely disseminated posts and videos.

The agencies “should formalize their partnership and jointly address the escalating impact of social media advertisements and influencer-driven promotions of prescription medications,” it says. “Regulatory agencies should collaborate with independent patient organizations to provide guidance on appropriate disclosures and ethical practices for influencer-sponsored prescription advertisements. FDA and FTC could do a joint meeting to debate issues and develop their response. We need a consensus on appropriate sponsorship disclosures and whether the influencer has actually taken the medicine. Regulations should be established for comment sections where there is potential for micro-interactions that could bypass content warnings and influence young patients. Clarifying their oversight of third-party advertisers of prescription medicines and allocating additional funds to the FDA Office of Prescription Drug Promotion could enable a stronger Bad Ad Program,… improving its effectiveness in addressing comments related to TikTok and Instagram or other social media platforms.”