united-states consumer-protection
Legal obligations regarding customer ratings and reviews
<p>As a user, I expect user ratings and reviews (on shops like Amazon or review sites like IMDb) to provide an independent information about a product. I'm aware reviews could still be biased (e.g. people who are unhappy with a product could leave a review more often than happy customers) but generally I expect some degree of integrity, in the sense that reviews are not manipulated intentionally. But what exactly should I expect from the legal point of view?</p>
<p>Practically, is a company publishing user-generated reviews allowed to manipulate user ratings (e.g. by removing negative or positive reviews) if:</p>
<ul>
<li>the company decides a product received an unfair rating (e.g. suspected vote rigging)</li>
<li>the company expresses their own option of a product, without financial incentive (e.g. the company owner prefers cats over dogs, so cat-themed products get better ratings)</li>
<li>the company promotes a product in exchange for a reward (e.g. the seller could pay to have negative reviews removed)</li>
</ul>
<p>What US laws would such actions violate, if any?</p>

<p>&quot;the company promotes a product in exchange for a reward (e.g. the seller could pay to have negative reviews removed)&quot;</p>
<p>Endorsements are <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/press-releases/ftc-publishes-final-guides-governing-endorsements-testimonials/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">regulated by the Federal Trade Commission</a>.</p>
<p>But if you &quot;expect user ratings and reviews (on shops like Amazon or review sites like IMDb) to provide an independent information about a product,&quot; you are unjustified in that belief and the company or website operator is under no obligation to do so. It is not illegal to manipulate online reviews.</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/australia" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;australia&#39;" rel="tag">australia</a></p>
<h2>Misleading and deceptive reviews are against the law</h2>
<p>The Australian Consumer Law makes misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce illegal. This applies to online <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/business/advertising-promoting-your-business/managing-online-reviews" rel="nofollow noreferrer">reviews</a> like it does everywhere else.</p>
<p>The ACCC guidance suggests that the following cross the line:</p>
<ul>
<li>leaving reviews that the business knows or believes are fake</li>
<li>offering incentives only for good reviews; offering incentives for all reviews, good and bad, is ok.</li>
<li>failing to disclose commercial relationships between the business and the reviewer</li>
<li>failing to moderate reviews in accordance with stated and disclosed procedures.</li>
</ul>
<p>There have been prosecutions and fines for misleading reviews.</p>
