FTC Bans Fake Product Reviews In Major Online Shopping Shakeup

Online shoppers, rejoice! Thanks to a new rule from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that went into effect on October 21, 2025, publishing fake online product reviews is now illegal.

The new FTC rules ban the sale or purchase of fake online reviews and give the Federal agency the power to seek civil penalties for any entity that knowingly violates the rule. In addition to prohibiting fake reviews, the rules include several other measures aimed at protecting consumers online. Those include bans on:

• Misleading testimonials generated by artificial intelligence or written by people who have no actual experience with the product, business or service, as well as those who misrepresent their experience.
• Reviews or testimonials from company officers, managers or other company insiders that fail to disclose their connection. That even includes when businesses solicit reviews or testimonials from relatives.
• Buying or selling social media followers or views generated by bots for commercial gain.
• Buying or selling of positive or negative reviews.
• Review suppression in which an entity uses unfounded legal or physical threats or other tactics designed to prevent or remove a negative review.
• Businesses that misrepresent a website or entity it controls by providing independent reviews or opinions about its own products or services.

You can read the full set of rules on the FTC website.

“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,” FTC Chair Lina Khan, said in August when the rules were issued. “By strengthening the FTC’s toolkit to fight deceptive advertising, the final rule will protect Americans from getting cheated, put businesses that unlawfully game the system on notice, and promote markets that are fair, honest, and competitive,” she added.

Anyone caught violating these rules could face a fine of $51,744 per violation. Enforcement could be a little tricky, but anyone who suspects a business of violating these rules can report it to the FTC on the web at reportfraud.ftc.gov. And I’ll be the first to tell you, please report it if you see it.

The new rules couldn’t have come at a better time. With generative AI at everyone’s fingertips and foreign bot farms on the rise, it’s never been easier for bad actors to make a quick buck selling you junk with a sheen of legitimacy thanks to four- or five-star ratings they didn’t actually earn.

It’s been a remarkably consumer-friendly period for the FTC lately. The agency recently announced a new “click-to-cancel” rule that makes it just as easy for to nix an automatic subscription, so you don’t get stuck paying for services you’re not using or wasting time navigating an impossible labyrinth of robocalls and hard-to-read websites to cancel those services.

To be sure, cracking down on bogus reviews isn’t going to be an easy, overnight fix, but having the rules in place will help us better navigate the world of online shopping.