Given consumers' increasing reliance on customer reviews for online purchases combined with the increasing use of AI, we can expect more regulatory (and likely plaintiff’s attorney) enforcement combating false or manipulated consumer reviews. Recognizing these trends, the FTC’s recently-effective Final Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials focuses heavily on fake reviews and negative review suppression. Indeed, the Final Rule explicitly bans publishing reviews and testimonials from someone who does not exist, such as AI-generated reviews, fictional people and those with no actual experience with a business’s products or services. The rule also bars businesses from suppressing negative reviews or misrepresenting that the reviews represent all or most of the reviews submitted if negative reviews have been suppressed. The announcement of the Final Rule was quickly followed up with an enforcement action against Sitejabber, which focused on point-of-purchase reviews, while promoting the responses (satisfaction with the transaction) as evidence of overall satisfaction with a consumer’s purchase. Expect increasing enforcement in the year ahead, especially at companies that offer AI-generated reviews and those that promote manipulated reviews.
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