Bad news for the fake review industry — the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule that allows it to penalize anyone that buys or sells fake reviews.
"Fake reviews not only waste people's time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors," said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan in the release. "By strengthening the FTC's toolkit to fight deceptive advertising, the final rule will protect Americans from getting cheated, put businesses that unlawfully game the system on notice, and promote markets that are fair, honest, and competitive."
The new rule prohibits fake reviews, undisclosed insider testimonials, review manipulation, and artificial inflation of social media metrics. My favorite part of the rule is the one that "prohibits a business from using unfounded or groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation, or certain false public accusations to prevent or remove a negative consumer review." We've posted about creeps like this a lot:
• Writer sued for a negative review in a blog post
• Benihana Kuwait sues blogger for $18,000 over bad review
• Purple Mattress sues reviewer for making 'false and misleading statements'
• Plastic surgeon who posted false reviews and threatened critics must pay $5m
• Baybrook Remodelers sue (and sue and sue) people who give them negative reviews
