Clean up old social media posts

#WarningLetterWednesday highlights very old social media posts called out in this warning letter. It is common for the FDA to look back a couple of years on social media posts, but this warning letter mentions a 2014 re-tweet and several three-year-old Facebook posts. This is an excellent reminder to clean up old social media posts, as the FDA/FTC looks at old posts similarly to current ones. I even made a video about this. 

Re-tweeting and re-posting can be seen as marketing claims, especially if a company adds commentary to the original post. This is the first time I have seen a re-tweet without company commentary called out in a warning letter. This is surprising and shows the viewpoint of the FDA's West Division 5 office, which has rarely issued marketing-only warning letters. It is interesting to see what online marketing claims each FDA division focuses on, and I will dig deeper into this fascinating aspect of enforcement at a later date.

There are several high-risk disease words mentioned in this warning letter, such as Parkinson's, antidepressant, anti-tumor, and hashtag diabetes, which likely was why this company received a letter. Here's a video I made about removing and replacing high-risk "buzzwords" being the most crucial first step to becoming compliant. 

Claims made on Amazon are also referenced in the warning letter. It is no longer considered the "unholy grail" of disease claims, and I expect to see more Amazon warning letters in the future.

Read the warning letter here.

I've been writing about these enforcement trends for a while now. You may enjoy reading my regulatory blogs here. 

It can be challenging to find content on LinkedIn, so I started this Warning Letter Wednesday Group. Please check it out. 

Disclaimer: The educational information provided here is for informational purposes only. Contact an attorney for specific legal advice. Rule #1 in compliance is to ensure marketing is truthful and not misleading.