From PC World: As someone who reviews tech products for a living, I have an entirely justified hatred for fake reviews. And fake reviews are an increasingly serious problem as they imbue product listings with unearned trust, tricking consumers and gaming search results.
The US Federal Trade Commission is preparing to bring the hammer down on fake and otherwise less-than-100-percent-honest reviews, on big stores like Amazon, social media, and even self-hosted online stores run by companies for their own products.
The FTC has now finalized its federal rules banning fake reviews online, with the Commission voting unanimously to adopt the standards it’s been working on for almost two years. It’ll officially go into effect, with regulatory power in the US, sixty days after it’s published in the Federal Register. That should make it active sometime later this year.
The FTC has made rules covering reviews and advertising on the web and social media before, and that’s why influencers have to tell you when they’ve been provided with a product for free or when a video is sponsored. (It’s also why sites like PCWorld disclose when we show affiliate revenue links. You can spot it at the top of this page.)
But this push seems specifically aimed at reducing the flood of fake reviews and other less-than-genuine means of promotion. Each infraction will carry a maximum fine of over $50,000.
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