In April this year, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2004 will bring in significant changes to consumer law and the way it is enforced. One of the changes is the introduction of a new banned practice regarding fake and misleading reviews.
We have already written about the draft guidance that the CMA has published about the new consumer reviews provisions, including the new obligation to take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent the publication of fake reviews or reviews that fail to disclose they are incentivised.
In a recent development, the CMA concluded its enforcement case against Google over concerns about consumer reviews appearing on the site. The CMA published undertakings setting out agreed changes to the company's processes for tackling fake consumer reviews.
Although agreed under the present law (which pre-date the DMCC Act), the undertakings provide insight into the CMA's likely approach to applying the DMCC Act, which expressly bans the posting or commissioning of a fake consumer reviews, and which requires businesses to take effective steps to prevent and remove them.
In particular, the undertakings require:
- A rigorous approach to detecting and removing fake reviews, enabling the rapid identification and investigation of businesses and reviewers that profit from fake reviews.
- Sanctions for rogue reviewers. Those who repeatedly post fake or misleading reviews for UK businesses will have their reviews deleted and will be banned from posting new reviews.
- Consequences for businesses that are found to be boosting their star ratings via fake reviews, including "warning alerts" being added to their profiles. Those firms that repeatedly engage in fake review activity will have all their reviews deleted for 6 months or more.
- Easy reporting so that consumers can quickly report concerning or suspicious reviews.
So, what do YOU need to do?
The undertakings provide another useful piece of the jigsaw, shedding light on the CMA's direction of travel regarding fake and misleading consumer reviews.
Any business that publishes or allows consumer reviews on its site should take into account the undertakings, in addition to the draft guidance already provided by the CMA, and consider whether their own practices require changes.
From April this year, the DMCC Act gives the CMA the ability to issue hefty fines for companies that fail to comply with the new law on fake and misleading consumer reviews.
See our Get DMCC Ready Hub for further information on the DMCC Act. We'll keep it updated with the latest guidance, insights, news and events.
