Famebit is a self-serve advertising platform that has potential to do good things for small creators. Brands post products they’d like covered on the Famebit platform and creators bid on producing content for the campaigns. This practice is fine so long as the creator is properly disclosing their relationship to the brand and/or Famebit.

Last year I received an email, out of the blue, from Famebit asking me to produce a video review for the Ring Video Doorbell for $250. It was unusual because usually creators come to Famebit and not the other way around.

My policy is that I don’t do reviews for money. Yes, brands and agencies send me products to review and often don’t want them back, but I disclose that when it happens. But, I never allow a brand to dictate my editorial content nor do they get to see the work prior to it being posted.

I informed the Famebit representative that I was happy to look at the product but I would not accept compensation or guarantee a positive review. Here was her cheery response:

Response from the Famebit Representative

And that was the end of the conversation. It did prompt me to post this video to give my viewers some clarity into my sponsorship practices:

So when I needed a new doorbell and actually purchased a Ring I decided that I would review the product anyhow. But because I had previously disclosed this back and forth in a prior video my audience needed to know that I didn’t have a change of heart.

A week later Famebit caught wind of this and their community manager Adam Hendle reached out to me via email.

“I hope you can understand that a brand would not be able to pay a creator to do a negative review of a product,” Hendle said, “That’s like Michael Jordan bashing a new pair of Nikes and getting paid to do it.”

Michael Jordan of course is not posting reviews of sneakers to his YouTube channel. He’s endorsing sneakers and Nike isn’t asking him to mislead the public into making them believe he’s writing a review of it.

Hendle went on to say that if a reviewer didn’t like a product, then the best option would be to keep the product and post nothing at all.

For its part Ring denies any knowledge of Famebit’s communications with YouTube and other creators. However their statement directly contradicts that of their agency.

“There is an expectation of professionalism we hold with well established vendors such as FameBit, and it’s unfortunate to see that they did not act in that way when representing us as a brand,” wrote Ring Brand Manager Yassi Shahmiri in an email to me, “We do not require all reviews be positive and we never require positive reviews in exchange for Ring Doorbell units whether it’s with YouTube influencers or mainstream reporters.”

Neither Shahmiri nor Hendle have responded to my repeated requests for additional comment. Specifically I was curious what instructions they gave to creators to disclose the business relationship. Well, actually, Famebit did respond by banning my account. The ban took effect while I was editing the video that appears at the top of this article.