Fake reviews: what the FTC's rule bans, what it leaves out, and how to check reviews before you buy

Whether you are hiring a contractor or shopping online, “chances are you check out online reviews first”, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says. Since October 21, 2024, an FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials has made several ways of faking them illegal, and it lets courts impose civil penalties for knowing violations. Before you rely on the stars under a TV, a soundbar or an air fryer, it helps to know what the rule covers, what it does not, and what the FTC itself advises.

What the rule bans

• Fake or false reviews and testimonials: ones from people who do not exist, including AI-generated reviews, from people who never used the product, or that misrepresent the reviewer's experience. Businesses may not write or sell them, and may not buy them or spread such testimonials when they knew or should have known they were fake.
• Buying a particular verdict: a business may not offer money or another incentive on condition that the review is positive, or negative.
• Undisclosed insider reviews: reviews by a company's officers or managers must clearly disclose their connection to the business, and there are limits on asking employees and relatives for reviews.
• Company-run “independent” review sites: a business may not pretend that a website it controls gives independent opinions on a category of products that includes its own.
• Review suppression: groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation, or public accusations made knowing they are false or with reckless disregard for the truth, used to stop or remove a review, are banned. So is presenting a selection of reviews as all or most of them when negative ones are being held back.
• Fake social media influence: buying or selling bot-generated followers, views or similar indicators to misrepresent influence for a commercial purpose.

What the rule does not cover

The rule is aimed mainly at businesses, and its exceptions matter for shoppers:

• A retailer that merely hosts customer reviews is not liable under the rule for fake ones it did not write or buy, the FTC says. That exemption still applies if the retailer prompts people to submit reviews or aggregates star ratings, and the rule does not require it to investigate whether reviews are fake.
• Ordinary consumers cannot be liable under the rule for what they say or do not say in their reviews.
• Incentives for reviews are not banned, as long as there is no express or implied requirement that the review express a particular sentiment. But the FTC warns that failing to disclose an incentive could violate the FTC Act, and incentivized reviews count as consumer testimonials under the rule.
• Holding back a review is not suppression if the same criteria apply to every review regardless of sentiment: for example, reviews that are abusive, that the seller reasonably believes are fake, or that have nothing to do with the product.

The practical point: the rating on a product page can include fake reviews without the site breaking this rule, as long as the site did not write or buy them.

Penalties and enforcement

The warning letters of December 22, 2025, were based on consumer complaints and information from the companies, the FTC said. They were not formal findings that anyone had broken the rule, but they warned that violations could lead to a federal lawsuit and civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation. That is the figure in the FTC's current schedule of inflation-adjusted penalties.

The October 22, 2026 case shows how fake reviews feature in wider enforcement. The FTC alleges that GovAssist, Entry and their owner, Scott Zuckerman, impersonated the government to sell passport services, and that their websites touted an “excellent rating” on Trustpilot and other review sites that rested on high numbers of fake positive reviews. The complaint charges violations of the FTC Act, the Impersonation Rule and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. These are allegations, and the court will decide the case.

How to weigh reviews before you buy

The FTC's consumer advice comes down to a few checks:

1. Use more than one source, including well-known sites with trustworthy and impartial expert reviews, and notice whether a site or its reviews are independent or sponsored.
2. Check the dates. A burst of reviews over a short period can mean some are fake.
3. Look at the reviewer's other reviews. An account that seems to exist only to review one product may be fake.
4. Do not assume you can tell a fake by looking. Some fake positive reviews give less than the top rating to seem more believable, and some fakes are negative, posted to harm a competitor.
5. Look for a label or badge showing that the reviewer received something, such as a free product, in exchange for the review.
6. Report suspected fake reviews to the site where they appear, and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, with “fake review” in the comments.

For electronics and appliances, add checks that do not depend on other buyers at all: the maker's published specifications, the written warranty (see our warranty guide), and the safety-recall search in our kitchen appliance guide.

What this guide cannot tell you

The rule sets what businesses may not do. It cannot tell you whether a particular review is genuine, and the FTC itself says it can often be nearly impossible to tell for sure. This guide summarizes the rule and the FTC's published guidance. It is not legal advice.