If the Federal Trade Commission has its way, businesses could soon be fined a hefty sum for hosting or promoting fake product reviews online.
"The FTC has seen a massive increase in online reviews in the past few years," Serena Viswanathan, associate director of the FTC's division of ad practices, told CBS News."We're all using them now to make decisions on whether to buy a product, where to stay on vacation. But unfortunately, with the rise in online reviews we have seen that bad actors can manipulate or fake reviews to deceive consumers for their own benefit.
"The FTC's proposed rule would make it crystal clear that it's illegal to do things like write or sell fake reviews from people who don't exist or never used the product, or to buy positive reviews or even buy negative reviews about your competitors," Viswanathan said.A steady stream of phony product reviews can boost an item's visibility among consumers while obscuring products from more trustworthy companies, according to experts.
. "The rule would trigger civil penalties for violators and should help level the playing field for honest companies.", between 30% and 40% of online reviews are"concocted or are in some way not genuine." Bogus reviews surged during the pandemic when U.S. shoppers made the bulk of their purchases over the internet versus in stores, the consumer advocacy group noted. Nearly 90% of online shoppers rely on reviews to guide their purchase decisions, according to PIRG.