If you’re like most people, before you buy a product, or even venture into a local restaurant to grab a burger, you’re probably looking online for some positive reviews.
However, fake reviews — both positive ones written by or paid for by someone selling a product and phony negative ones, like from the burger joint across from the one you were eyeing — can make it difficult to make the right choice.
In fact, Amazon tells the Federal Trade Commission that it “proactively stopped more than 200 million suspected fake reviews in 2020 alone,” according to the agency.
However, that’s virtually a drop in the bucket.
Artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT are making it even harder, with realistic-looking reviews from nonhuman submitters, the FTC says.
To that end, the FTC is proposing a rule that would level serious fines against companies dabbling in phony reviews, as well as those that bully users who post honest negative ones.
According to The Washington Post, the FTC is seeking a fine “of up to $50,000 for each fake review, for each time a consumer sees it.” That, in short, is A LOT of dough.
Also targeted will be companies that run their own review sites, or that use paid-for followers to make it look like a product or service is more popular than it is. Companies that tag pictures of their product on another one’s legit reviews — called “review hijacking” — will also be penalized.
According to Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, “Our proposed rule on fake reviews shows that we’re using all available means to attack deceptive advertising in the digital age.”