Wikipedia:Deceptive advertising

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Deceptive advertising is any statement by an advertiser that is false or misleading, or that does not adequately identify itself as an advertisement.

According to the United States Federal Trade Commission: "A basic truth-in-advertising principle is that it's deceptive to mislead consumers about the commercial nature of content. Advertisements or promotional messages are deceptive if they convey to consumers expressly or by implication that they’re independent, impartial, or from a source other than the sponsoring advertiser ..."^[1] The British Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 which broadly replaces the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, has similar implications.

Undisclosed native advertising is a type of deceptive advertising. Native advertising mimics the format of the medium in which it is displayed; for example, a native ad in a newspaper may adopt the tone and appearance of a news article.^[1] Undisclosed native advertising in Wikipedia is paid text or other material that appears to be part of an unbiased encyclopedia article, but that does not identify itself as an advertisement. Even when the relationship with the business is disclosed on the talk page, readers are left unaware; other editors may also have difficulty identifying which parts of an article originated with the client.

Deceptive ads, and specifically undisclosed native ads, have long been a problem on Wikipedia. This essay describes how to spot and remove them.