The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed new rules that aim to reduce the number of inauthentic online reviews, Washington Post reports.
The FTC has argued that artificial reviews mislead consumers and are a violation of the law. The new rules propose a $50,000 fine to companies for each fake review that is seen by a customer and will be open to comments for two months before they are finalized.
The rules not only go after those who write fake reviews but also companies that pay for their creation. This does not apply to businesses encouraging real customers to leave genuine reviews, such as by offering gift cards in exchange for one review.
Even if the rules are approved, additional enforcement will not be spent on eliminating fake reviews, and problems could arise when dealing with companies based in countries that traditionally don’t cooperate with the FTC.
The rules also don’t hold social media sites, such as Google, Facebook, or Yelp accountable for hosting fake reviews.
Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine explained that “many of them assert immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act,” a law that does not hold sites responsible for what others post on them.
