No Hiding In Social Media: More False COVID-19 Treatment Claims Found By US Agencies
Executive Summary
FDA and FTC's latest warning letters include the first firm marketing CBD products linked with bogus COVID-19 claims. Latest warnings also mark the first the agencies submitted based completely or nearly entirely on regulatory violations found in businesses social media postings.
Social media platforms are frequently where consumers find information about health care products. They're also where US regulatory agencies are finding unlawful claims for treating or preventing infections from the novel coronavirus.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission's four warning letters published on 1 April include the first firm marketing cannabidiol products to be linked with bogus CoVID-19 claims.
The agencies continue identifying US and foreign companies that are among the apparent wave of businesses spurred by widespread consumer concern because of the COVID-19 pandemic to make obviously false claims for dietary supplements, personal care and other products to treat and prevent the disease.
The latest COVID-19-related warnings also mark the first the agencies submitted based completely or nearly entirely on regulatory violations found in businesses social media postings. While the four warned firms had little or no reference to references to the coronavirus or COVID-19 on their websites, their recent content posted on Facebook and Instagram was rife with statements linking their products to preventing or treating the disease.
The FDA and FTC submitted warnings on 1 April to Gaia's Whole Healing Essentials LLC, Moffat, CO; Homeomart Indibuy, Karnataka, India; and Health Mastery Systems, dba Pure Plant Essentials, Ashland, OR; and on 31 March to CBD firm NeuroXPF of Las Vegas, owned by Irish firm Neuro Armour LTD.
Like other firms warned about unlawful COVID-19 claims, Gaia's Whole Healing violtaive claims were for for a Collodial Silver liquid supplement.
Like other firms already warned about unlawful COVID-19 claims, Gaia's Whole Healing was warned about claims for its Collodial Silver liquid supplement product. Its noncompliant claims on social media included, "In a medical system that is failing … there is no other solution to protecting yourself from the corona virus … To purchase our Colloidal Silver, visit our website."
The warning to Homeomart references claims including, "Arsenicum album 30 could be taken as prophylactic medicine against Corona virus infections."
Pure Plant Essentials pitched its essential oils with claims such as "Corona virus symptoms of cough, fever and breathing issues may benefit from a respiratory steam and provide comfort and support during the illness," according to the FDA and FTC warning.
NeuroXPF's warning says it promoted discounted prices for its products saying, "We want everyone to take CBD and take advantage of its potential to help prepare your body to fight a coronavirus infection. So, we’re making all of our products more affordable.”
Clear Regulatory Stance On Social Media Claims
If any of the firms expected that referencing the pandemic in social media would free them of compliance with FDA and FTC regulations prohibiting unsupported claims in advertising and labeling, both agencies have long made clear that businesses' statements on those platforms are claims for their products.
The FDA allows firms' some leeway for consumer comments posted to their social media pages that might state false claims for a product, while it instructs firms to manage digital media claims as they would claims on product labels. (Also see "In Brief: Ad, Social Media Claims Scrutinized; Unilever Slims Down; Perrigo Generic Advil Congestion Ready" - HBW Insight, 14 Jul, 2014.)
The FTC, however, takes a more stringent approach on consumer comments and is as stringent about requiring that firms identify when they have financial or other relationships with sources of content promoting their products. And recently, an FTC commissioner recommended the agency tighten further its enforcement against sources of online content that make false claims for consumer health and other categories of packaged goods. (Also see "FTC Commissioner Proposes Making Endorsement Guides Into Rules, Seeking Stiffer Penalties" - HBW Insight, 16 Feb, 2020.)
Rather than the typical 15 days the FDA allows firms warned about violative claims for consumer health products to respond with proof of having corrected the problems or with a plan for corrections, the agency instructs the warned firms to respond within 48 hours by email to an address the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research opened for correspondence related to the pandemic. (Also see "No Facility Inspections? No Shortage Of Bogus Pandemic Claims Found Online By US Agencies" - HBW Insight, 31 Mar, 2020.)
CDER's Office of Compliance states in the warnings that failure to comply with the deadline and to implement corrective actions could result in regulatory enforcement "including, without limitation, seizure and injunction."
As the FDA has with other businesses it has warned, it advised the firms that they will be added to the agency's online list on of firms and websites that have received warning letters concerning fraudulent claims for COVID-19.
Despite federal regulations and state laws prohibiting false advertising, the COVID-19 pandemic, like similar public health scares, provide a fertile market for businesses as well as individual to prey on consumer fear with bogus claims for health care products. Tennessee's attorney general recently told HBW Insight that his and other states' agencies expect that "bad actors" will make unlawful claims for COVID-19 treatments. (Also see "State Agencies Sharpen Supplement Market Oversight During Pandemic, With Industry's Thanks" - HBW Insight, 29 Mar, 2020.)
Social media platforms and e-commerce sites also are on the lookout. Facebook Inc. is enforcing against bogus claims after an onslaught of advertisements targeting consumer fear led it recently to crack down on marketers on its social media platform; Amazon Inc. reportedly removed more than 1m products from its third-party seller platform that either made coronavirus-related treatment claims or were offered at exorbitant prices, particularly high-demand products such as medical face masks and hand sanitizers. (Also see "Like Other Outbreaks, Coronavirus Symptoms Include False Health Claims, Price-Gouging" - HBW Insight, 6 Mar, 2020.)