The FTC Takes Close Look at Native Advertising, Additional Guidance Likely On Dec. 4, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hosted a full day workshop to examine the blending of advertisements with news, entertainment, and other editorial content in digital media, referred to as “native advertising” or “sponsored content.” The workshop was titled “Blurred Lines,” highlighting the FTC’s concerns about the ability of users to distinguish editorial content from sponsored content. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez identified the key focus of the workshop to explore whether industry self-regulation and best practices are working, to ensure that users are able to distinguish between paid and editorial content, and the retransmission and aggregation of native advertising and the various ways this is done.