The Federal Trade Commission barred businesses from writing and buying reviews for the August ruling. Now, it is alleged that customer review site, Sitejabber, has published “misleading” ratings and reviews on behalf of 130,000 businesses on its site. The FTC’s proposed order would stop Sitejabber from “misleading” customer ratings and reviews “in the future.”
The FTC’s complaint alleges that Sitejabber collected reviews at the point of sale, or before customers received or experienced a product or service. In one example, customers were asked to rate their shopping experience out of five stars and write something immediately after checking out.
Related: Do You Own Pyrex Measuring Cups? The FTC May Send You a Check in the Mail
These instant ratings and reviews, or Instant Feedback Survey results, become part of the site’s profile on Sitejabber. The FTC says this can mislead people into thinking that previous customers rated a business’s product or service highly when they were actually rating the shopping experience.
“Introduce [Instant Feedback Survey] results such as post-fill reviews and ratings can mislead consumers into believing that a business’s high number of reviews and high ratings means that thousands of customers have had a good experience with the business’s products or services, when in fact the ratings and reviews that are displayed primarily reflect only customers’ experience shopping on business websites,” page four of the complaint FTC reads as follows.
How to Avoid FTC Scrutiny on Your Website Review
Businesses can avoid FTC scrutiny by making sure their Instant Feedback Survey ratings and reviews are not tied to their product ratings and reviews — so customers know exactly what’s being rated.
This is one of the FTC’s first enforcement actions under its new rule.
“In line with our review and false evidence law, cases like this show that we will take action to stop all forms of fraud in the review ecosystem.” Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, Samuel Levine said.
The FTC’s previous false reviews and testimonials rule bars businesses from buying or selling fake reviews, including those generated by AI.
Related: Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp All ‘Engaged in Massive Scam’ to Make Billions, According to FTC
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