FTC’s Proposed Rule on “Fake Reviews” Covers Much More...
| 8 min
On the Friday before a long 4th of July weekend, the FTC delivered some light beach reading in the form of a 100-page notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) “banning fake reviews and testimonials.” While banning fake reviews and testimonials seems uncontroversial, the proposed rule would actually do much more, including authorizing civil penalties for businesses that procure or disseminate deceptive (not just “fake”) reviews when they “knew or should have known” the review was deceptive and where the review fails to disclose the testimonialist’s relationship with the business or product.