Federal Trade Commission (FTC) crackdown on fabricated reviews and fraudulent consumer and celebrity testimonials prevent these practices from being used on websites and e-commerce sites. The FTC voted 5-0 on Wednesday to approve new rules against buying and selling fake reviews and product reviews. The rules will come into effect within 60 days.
The new FTC rules address the practice of buying and selling fake consumer reviews, including using AI-generated consumer and celebrity reviews for products or services. They also prevent “the provision of compensation or other incentives contingent on the writing of consumer reviews expressing a particular positive or negative opinion” and prohibit “any business-controlled website or entity from providing independent reviews or opinions about products or services.” “prohibits giving false information”. , the FTC said in a statement.
The official ban also comes with stiff penalties for those who break the new rules. The fines can be very high .
The FTC has officially announced its intention to seek new rules for such practices . The commission has been trying to control fake online reviews and opinions for years. The first such case was settled in 2019 The company was accused of paying for fake reviews for weight loss products from amazonvierifiedreviews.com and the FTC fined them $12.8 million. The FTC has also investigated similar cases against a supplement manufacturer for “failing to review” product reviews and ratings on Amazon, which ended in a $600,000 fine, and which creates fake online reviews by telling employees to write them.
The government isn’t the only agency trying to prevent the buying and selling of fake reviews. Service recommendation website Lists businesses that have received warnings for posting or purchasing fake reviews for their Yelp page.
