Seven hundred U.S. online stores and technology companies received a warning this week for providing or using fake reviews. It is not allowed. Anyone who continues to do so risks a fine of forty thousand euros for the violation.
This was made clear in a letter sent by the FTC to Amazon, Facebook, Google, Holland America Line, Booking.com, Shell and Unilever earlier this week. Overview of all recipients is available In this PDF.
The regulator is not opposed to criticism, but to misleading or using illegal expressions for marketing purposes. It is not allowed to write or publish. “We urge you to carefully examine this message and adjust your practices so that they do not violate the law.”
Companies that continue to work with deliberately misleading advertising after this penalty notice may be fined up to $ 43,792 for each violation.
Fake criticisms abound on the agenda of politicians and regulators. Partly because it is a low hanging fruit, it can cause somewhat unreasonable damage. In the Netherlands, the cabinet wants to ban the posting of fake reviews or publishing them on the Internet. To this end, the Consumer Protection Modernization Bill was sent to the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Photo: gfpeck (Cc)
