FEDS SAY, ENOUGH! ANNOUNCE BAN ON FAKE ONLINE REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS
In the immortal words of every frustrated consumer online ever, “It’s about damned time!” And if you’ve ever used Amazon or literally any kind on online shopping venue, you’ve likely read the online reviews and testimonials of different products to help you make a choice. But unfortunately, you may have noticed that some, many or even nearly all of the testimonials seemed suspicious, like a commercial instead. And that’s because some, many or all of them possibly were commercials, or totally fake. So it’s indeed about damned time that the Feds are taking aim at stopping these, and protecting consumers.
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FAKE ONLINE REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS MAKE IT HARD TO BE AN INFORMED SHOPPER
I’ve left online reviews and even testimonials, especially if I loved the product or totally hated it. The idea of this venue on many shopping sites like Amazon is to help consumers make more informed choices, in an almost community form from product to product. But that venue gets confusing and all but useless when companies create their own “insider” reviews, or those companies suppress real, bad reviews, or when they literally buy social media support via fake followers and bots. Want to know if that new grill is actually the one to buy for the end of summer barbecue? You may soon be able to make a more informed choice.
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NO ONLINE REVIEWS OR TESTIMONIALS FROM BOTS, AI, STAFF OR FAMILY MEMBERS
As of today, Wednesday, August 14th, 2024, the FTC (the Federal Trade Commission) announced that there is a new rule that bill legally ban fake online reviews and testimonials. This rule is the next huge step in a process that the FTC started in November of 2022, and held a hearing about earlier this year in February. So if a real human leaves a fake post about a product they know nothing about (as in, they never bought or used it themselves), that’s now forbidden. Also forbidden are anything generated by AI. And no more postings supporting (or the opposite in terms of competition) products can be made by employees of companies that make products, their immediate relatives, or any entity that stands to make money on a product.
The new rules will take effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. So far, violations will result in civil and not criminal penalties. And here I thought fraud was a criminal act….
