US FTC Issues New Regulation to Curb Fake Reviews, Will Have Major Impact

TapTechNews August 15th news, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a new regulation aiming to curb the increasingly serious problem of fake reviews. This regulation will officially take effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register, clearly prohibiting the creation, purchase, or sale of false reviews, and those who violate it will face civil penalties.

FTC Chair Lina Khan said, Fake reviews not only waste consumers' time and money, but also pollute the market environment and squeeze the living space of honest competitors... This new regulation will strengthen the FTC's toolkit to combat false advertising, protect consumers from deception, warn those enterprises that use false means to make profits, and promote a fair, honest and competitive market environment.

TapTechNews attaches the main contents of the new regulation as follows:

Strictly prohibit false reviews: Prohibit the creation or dissemination of false reviews, whether generated by artificial intelligence or not. Reviews must truly reflect the actual experience of individuals with products or services. Enterprises are not allowed to create, purchase or spread false reviews that they know or should know are false.

Prohibit induced reviews: Enterprises are not allowed to provide rewards or incentives in any form in exchange for specific types of reviews, whether positive or negative.

Internal personnel reviews need to be disclosed: When internal personnel of enterprises write reviews, they must clearly disclose their relationship with the enterprise. Executives and managers are not allowed to ask for reviews from employees or their relatives.

Transparency of enterprise-controlled review websites: Enterprises are not allowed to mislead consumers into believing that the review websites they control provide independent opinions. This regulation ensures the transparency of review websites.

Protect negative reviews: Enterprises are not allowed to use threats or intimidation means to delete negative reviews, nor can they underreport the number of reviews on websites by suppressing negative reviews.

Combat false social media data: Prohibit the buying and selling of false social media data (such as the number of fans, views) to deceive consumers about the influence of the purchasers.

The FTC has passed this regulation unanimously. It is expected that this regulation will have a significant impact on the online markets and social media platforms flooded with false reviews, and the civil penalties imposed by the FTC on violators will have a strong deterrent effect.