The federal government has rules in place to protect companies and consumers from false information. This has been followed by professionals across all industries for more than 100 years and is one of the reasons cocaine is no longer found in Coke, etc.
When people violate this law, they can be sued in civil courts for their violation. Cases wherein companies have shown disregard or not in good faith messaging have cost upwards of $434 billion dollars. In the case of cosmetics, the rules keep companies honest and deter practices (animal testing) that consumers will not tolerate. In the case of food, drinks and pharma, the laws keep us alive.
So, who has the tell the truth?
Advertisers
Journalists
Broadcasters
Public Relations
Basically anyone communicating to the public in mass with one exception:
Politicians
Prior to 2015, most candidates were certainly guilty of making false promises but rarely guilty of outright, blatant and provable lies. And, prior to social media, mass communication for politicians still had to go through a medium that did their best to ensure truth.
The biggest evil was, "Spin"
The obvious reason for this is that they are the ones who make the rules. Simple as that.
Add social media
Game plan coming soon...