While some people might think that Ashton and Oprah on Twitter is the only news, the real social media story happening at the minute involves the FTC (the Federal Trade Commission).

The Federal Trade Commission plans to begin regulating blogs and social media. While they’re getting tougher on results-based advertising, they are also looking at going after blogs and social media users who portray products they’re promoting in a less than accurate light. AdAge explains:

The Federal Trade Commission plans to get tougher on advertisers’ use of testimonials and endorsements by requiring more transparency and ending the practice of using disclaimers like “individual results may vary” and “results not typical.”

An online privacy group has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking it to investigate Google’s security safeguards for its cloud computing service.

Four major marketing and advertising industry associations have announced they are working to develop enhanced self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising with the goal of addressing privacy concerns and increasing consumer’s trust in how online information is collected and used.

Those associations involved include the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Quite a storm of debate has erupted over a new service called InLinks – essentially a paid text link service that allegedly makes it hard for Google (and other search engines) to detect them. And mouths of  Internet marketers begin to salivate.

The Federal Trade Commission has shut down one of the largest global spam operations that promoted prescription drugs and bogus male-enhancement products

The FTC says it has received more than three million complaints about spam messages connected to the operation known as HerbalKing. It estimates that it may be responsible for sending billions of illegal spam messages.

The Federal Trade Commission has shut down one of the largest global spam operations that promoted prescription drugs and bogus male-enhancement products

The FTC says it has received more than three million complaints about spam messages connected to the operation known as HerbalKing. It estimates that it may be responsible for sending billions of illegal spam messages.

The Federal Trade Commission has shut down one of the largest global spam operations that promoted prescription drugs and bogus male-enhancement products

The FTC says it has received more than three million complaints about spam messages connected to the operation known as HerbalKing. It estimates that it may be responsible for sending billions of illegal spam messages.

The Federal Trade Commission has shut down one of the largest global spam operations that promoted prescription drugs and bogus male-enhancement products

The FTC says it has received more than three million complaints about spam messages connected to the operation known as HerbalKing. It estimates that it may be responsible for sending billions of illegal spam messages.

The US Senate is holding a series of hearings on online advertising, behavioral targeting and privacy to determine whether they should consider legislation protecting consumers online in these areas.

The Senate has turned to Google, Microsoft, the FTC, Facebook, privacy watchdogs and others for their opinions in the matter. Some, like Google, welcomed a “comprehensive privacy law that would establish a uniform framework for privacy and procedures to punish bad actors.”

The chipmaker’s long-standing dismissal of antitrust claims by its main rival, AMD, will receive a test as Federal Trade Commission regulators take a closer look at Intel.

In the never-ending Yahoo-Microsoft mess, we might be getting somewhere; Carl Icahn has received a wave from the FTC.  The billionaire can buy even more shares of Yahoo’s stock and push his proxy fight forward.

Online advertisers using behavioral targeting to find their audience attracted the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, who have called for principles of self-regulation for that type of marketing.

Online advertiser ValueClick, Inc. will pay a record $2.9 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its advertising claims and emails were deceptive and violated federal law.

The agency also charged that ValueClick and its subsidiaries, Hi-Speed Media and E-Babylon did not secure consumer’s sensitive financial information, even though they claimed to do so.

Lead generation practices by ValueClick’s Hi-Speed Media division aroused the ire of the Federal Trade Commission, but the company managed to settle without admitting any wrongdoing.

A federal judge has ordered Sili Neutraceuticals, LLC and Brian McDaid to pay more than $2.5 million for making false advertising claims and sending email messages that violated the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act).

The Federal Trade Commission has reached an agreement with Member Source Media, an online advertising company for its use of spam emails with misleading subject lines that failed to disclose to consumers that they would have to spend money to receive "free" items.

Privacy watchdog groups have filed a complaint with the FTC about AskEraser, claiming that the six-week-old service doesn’t live up to its promises of erasing all user search data even when enabled.

The Federal Trade Commission plans to keep an ear open for complaints now that they have given Google and DoubleClick their blessing to get together.

UPDATE: No sooner had I hit “publish,” I get an email from Google confirming the deal has been approved by the FTC. The announcement reads in part…