No More Fake Reviews - So Who’s Gonna Tell Us What To Buy?

rooze

I think 'consumer reviews' means reviews for the consumer not specifically 'reviews by a consumer', so professional reviewers generate consumer reviews and are affected by the ruling ...

There's nothing to suggest your interpretation of the FTC announcement. The ruling addresses "Fake Reviews and Testimonials" and is explicit:

"Fake or False Consumer Reviews, Consumer Testimonials, and Celebrity Testimonials: The final rule addresses reviews and testimonials that misrepresent that they are by someone who does not exist."

You're reading w-a-y too much into this ruling.

rooze

... the ruling also includes provisions that protect reviewers from retaliation by manufacturers, per Erin, Tekton, the Goldensound guy ...

The ruling applies to "consumer reviews," so presumably "professional" reviewers such as the YouTubers who generate revenue are excluded.

It looks that many of you are expecting too much from this FTC ruling. For the most part, it applies to "consumer reviews." Those are reviews written by consumers, not by ostensibly "professional’ reviewers that would be writing for a real publication, such as TAS or Stereophile. Even many of the YouTube audio "experts" are arguably "professional," especially if their YT channel generates revenue.