Truth and Accuracy Standards for All Ads

+ All ads, even on youtube, must follow the rules for truth and accuracy, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus ruled in a decision released Thursday.

The ruling marked the first time the NAD--the investigative arm of the ad industry's self-policing operation--considered claims of false advertising on video-sharing sites.

"This case establishes a precedent," Andrea Levine, the director of NAD, said in a statement e-mailed to OnlineMediaDaily. "When an advertiser places a video on a site like YouTube and uses it, either to make claims about its own product or to compare its product to a competitor's product, those claims are advertising claims and, by law, require substantiation."