Late last year, Tom Hanks was surprised to learn he was the newest spokesman for a dental plan. Turns out his rave review was an AI deepfake, and he had nothing to do with it. It’s the type of promotional trickery the FTC is now going after in the US.The FTC today finalized rules intended to crack down on fake online reviews. They ban companies from buying or selling positive or negative reviews or having employees write reviews pretending to customers. The rules also cover those who use threats to suppress bad reviews or hijack social media accounts to promote products. Companies are also banned from setting up websites that claim to include independent reviews but are actually just intended to publish glowing reviews of their own products.“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “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.”The rules allow the FTC to seek civil penalties for violations. Currently, the maximum civil penalty is $51,744 per violation, although courts can lower that amount based on severity and business size. The FTC says that “ultimately, courts will also decide how much to calculate the number of violations in a given case.”
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Without the threat of civil penalties, there “might not be enough to deter clearly deceptive review and testimonial practices,” the FTC says.
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About Joe Hindy
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Hello, my name is Joe and I am a tech blogger. My first real experience with tech came at the tender age of 6 when I started playing Final Fantasy IV (II on the SNES) on the family’s living room console. As a teenager, I cobbled together my first PC build using old parts from several ancient PCs, and really started getting into things in my 20s. I served in the US Army as a broadcast journalist. Afterward, I served as a news writer for XDA-Developers before I spent 11 years as an Editor, and eventually Senior Editor, of Android Authority. I specialize in gaming, mobile tech, and PC hardware, but I enjoy pretty much anything that has electricity running through it.
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