Section 465.1 - [Effective 10/21/2024] Definitions(a)Business means an individual who sells products or services, a partnership that sells products or services, a corporation that sells products or services, or any other commercial entity that sells products or services.(b)Celebrity testimonial means an advertising or promotional message (including verbal statements, demonstrations, or depictions of the name, signature, likeness, or other identifying personal characteristics of an individual) that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, or experiences of a well-known individual who purchased, used, or otherwise had experience with a product, service, or business.(c)Clear and conspicuous means that a required disclosure is easily noticeable (i.e., difficult to miss) and easily understandable by ordinary consumers, including in all of the following ways: (1) In any communication that is solely visual or solely audible, the disclosure must be made through the same means through which the communication is presented. In any communication made through both visual and audible means, such as a television advertisement, the disclosure must be presented in at least the same means as the representation(s) requiring the disclosure.(2) A visual disclosure, by its size, contrast, location, the length of time it appears, and other characteristics, must stand out from any accompanying text or other visual elements so that it is easily noticed, read, and understood.(3) An audible disclosure, including by telephone or streaming video, must be delivered in a volume, speed, and cadence sufficient for ordinary consumers to easily hear and understand it.(4) In any communication using an interactive electronic medium, such as social media or the internet, the disclosure must be unavoidable. A disclosure is not clear and conspicuous if a consumer must take any action, such as clicking on a hyperlink or hovering over an icon, to see it.(5) The disclosure must use diction and syntax understandable to ordinary consumers and must appear in each language in which the representation that requires the disclosure appears.(6) The disclosure must comply with these requirements in each medium through which it is received, including all electronic devices and face-to-face communications.(7) The disclosure must not be contradicted or mitigated by, or inconsistent with, anything else in the communication.(8) When the representation or sales practice targets a specific audience, such as children, the elderly, or the terminally ill, "ordinary consumers" includes members of that group.(d)Consumer review means a consumer's evaluation, or a purported consumer's evaluation, of a product, service, or business that is submitted by the consumer or purported consumer and that is published to a website or platform dedicated in whole or in part to receiving and displaying such evaluations. For the purposes of this part, consumer reviews include consumer ratings regardless of whether they include any text or narrative.(e)Consumer review hosting means providing the technological means by which a website or platform enables consumers to see or hear the consumer reviews that consumers have submitted to the website or platform.(f)Consumer testimonial means an advertising or promotional message (including verbal statements, demonstrations, or depictions of the name, signature, likeness, or other identifying personal characteristics of an individual) that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, or experiences of a consumer who has purchased, used, or otherwise had experience with a product, service, or business.(g)Distribute fake indicators of social media influence means the distribution of fake indicators of social media influence to individuals or businesses who could use the indicators to misrepresent their influence.(h)Fake indicators of social media influence means indicators of social media influence generated by bots, purported individual accounts not associated with a real individual, accounts created with a real individual's personal information without their consent, or hijacked accounts, or that otherwise do not reflect a real individual's or entity's activities, opinions, findings, or experiences.(i)Immediate Relative means a spouse, parent, child, or sibling.(j)Indicators of social media influence means any metrics used by the public to make assessments of an individual's or entity's social media influence, such as followers, friends, connections, subscribers, views, plays, likes, saves, shares, reposts, and comments.(k)Manager means an employee of a business who supervises other employees or agents and who either holds the title of a "manager" or otherwise serves in a managerial role.(l)Officers include owners, executives, and managing members of a business.(m)Purchase a consumer review means to provide something of value, such as money, gift certificates, products, services, discounts, coupons, contest entries, or another review, in exchange for a consumer review.(n)Reviewer means the author or purported author of a consumer review.(o)Testimonialist means the individual giving or purportedly giving a consumer testimonial or celebrity testimonial.(p) An unfounded or groundless legal threat is a legal threat based on claims, defenses, or other legal contentions unwarranted by existing law or based on factual contentions that have no evidentiary support or will likely have no evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery.