Fake reviews: a new banned practice

Since the 6th April 2025, fake reviews, that is, any consumer review that “purports to be, but is not, based on a person’s genuine experience” are illegal. The new rules come as part of the consumer law revision and reform effected by Parts 3 and 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which came into force last month. Under the Act, this new banned practice includes: submitting or commissioning a fake review, concealing incentives provided for reviews, and publishing reviews or information derived from them in a misleading way. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been granted new powers to enforce the Act through administrative proceedings (i.e. without going through the courts), including issuing compliance directions and/or significant fines.

Broad impact, across media and supply chains

The ban applies widely, across platforms and media, and to both digital and analogue formats. Written text, visual devices and graphics (e.g. star ratings) and audio or video testimonials are all caught. As facilitation of fake reviews is also banned, changes will be felt across the entire review supply chain. Anyone involved in the capture, publishing and management of consumer reviews – parties such as content creators, journalists, marketing companies and review sites – all need to ensure their activities comply. The rules are sector-agnostic, though businesses in the retail, leisure, hospitality and travel sectors, where reviews can be highly influential, may be particularly impacted.

The new rules also extend to the presentation of reviews and information derived from them. Activities which manipulate the overall impression of the reviews, for example aggregating reviews across products ‘catalogue abuse’, relying on outdated reviews (e.g. where a product has materially changed), promoting only positive reviews, or removing or limiting genuine negative reviews (e.g. offering a consumer a remedy as a condition of removing or amending their review) are non-compliant. AI-generated reviews are unlikely to comply.

New monitoring obligations

The Act also imposes a new  positive, on-going obligation on traders to take reasonable and proportionate steps to detect and remove fake or misleading reviews or review information, both on their own websites and third-party platforms such as search engines, social media, recommendation platforms and online marketplaces. Review publishers will be expected to implement a clear and accessible policy to address fake reviews and to monitor and evaluate the policy’s effectiveness. Where reviews are removed, publishers should ensure necessary updates to review count are made.

Practical tips for compliance

Traders must ensure that all reviews published reflect genuine customer experiences, whether that is positive or negative. Some key steps to compliance include:

• Audit your review capture process. Understand your review sources and assess where consumers may encounter fake reviews. Introduce measures to mitigate any risk; this could include using technology to identify fake reviews or AI generated submissions.
• Make partnerships and paid promotions obvious. The ad era is over. Details of incentivised reviews cannot be hidden behind ‘learn more’ links. If the platform doesn’t have functionality to indicate that a review that has been incentivised it’s likely to be misleading.
• Ensure any rewards are rating-neutral. If your business uses discounts or freebies to encourage consumers to submit a review, ensure that such rewards these are not conditional on the review’s content or rating.
•  Consider how your business uses review information beyond the review site(s). Advertising and marketing materials which rely on review information will be caught under the rules. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is updating the CAP Code and BCAP Code to reflect the changes.

What to expect in the coming months?

Notwithstanding its new powers, the CMA has indicated that its initial focus will be supporting businesses to achieve compliance with the new rules, rather than punitive enforcement. To help traders navigate their responsibilities in relation to fake reviews it has published new guidance (CMA208).

The Act has also introduced new rules on drip pricing and subscriptions and enhanced the rules around misleading omissions. Notably, the Secretary of State is also empowered to create further banned practices. As such, the consumer regime dynamic potential to adapt to market trends, technological development and high-profile areas such as ‘greenwashing', addictive designs, dark patterns and the labelling of AI-generated content.

Do you need legal advice?

Our Commercial and Technology lawyers specialise in consumer trading, marketing and media. If you have any questions on fake reviews or how the Act may impact your business operations, please get in touch with us at [email protected] ​​​​​​