The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says it will impose fines on companies that use fake online reviews to deceive their customers.
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The U.S. government agency announced it on Wednesday after sending letters warning more than 700 top companies not to use such illegal practices in online marketing and their advertising campaigns, as they could face severe penalties.
They were asked to distribute the letter and the notice of criminal penalties to all subsidiaries selling services and products within the United States borders.
The full list of companies that received the FTC's warning letter includes many high-profile companies, including Adobe, Amazon, Apple, AT&T, BestBuy, Burger King, Chipotle, Dell, eBay, Expedia, Google, KFC, Macy's, Microsoft, McDonald's, PayPal, Tesla, Uber, UPS, Valve, Walgreen, Walmart, Wendy's, Yelp and many more.
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As detailed in the notice that hundreds of companies received this week, the illegal acts and practices that could lead to sanctions are as follows:
- false claim of approval from a third party, false statement that a validator is a real user, a current user, or a recent user
- false statement that an approval represents the experience, opinions, or views of users or purported users
- use of validation to submit fraudulent performance claims
- failure to disclose an unexpected substantive connection with a validator
- and misleading statement that the experience of validators represents the typical or usual consumer experience
This warning was triggered by an explosion of fraudulent approvals and reviews in online marketplaces, a trend that has been further amplified in recent years by social media, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between advertising and authentic content.
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The FTC issued its first fine regarding approvals in 1941 against Wilbert W. Haase Co., Inc and the last one in 1984 against Cliffdale Assocs., Inc.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
