A fake review is a review that misrepresents who wrote it or their experience — for example one written by someone who was never a customer, or by a business about itself.
In the US, the Federal Trade Commission's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR Part 465), in force since 21 October 2024, prohibits businesses from writing, buying or selling fake reviews — including reviews by people who do not exist or who had no actual experience with the business — and bans related practices such as undisclosed insider reviews, paying for reviews that must express a particular sentiment, and suppressing reviews through unfounded legal threats or intimidation. The EU and the UK also ban fake reviews under consumer protection law.
Review platforms enforce their own rules too: Google, Trustpilot and Tripadvisor prohibit fake engagement, conflict-of-interest reviews and reviews not based on a genuine experience. A negative review is not fake because it is harsh or unfair; it is fake when its authorship or the experience it describes is not genuine.
In practice
The FTC enforces its rule against those who create or procure fake reviews; it does not give you a removal request to file. Removal normally goes through the platform's flagging and policy channels, supported by evidence such as no matching customer record, signs that a competitor or former employee wrote it, or patterns across accounts. Where a fake review also states something false as fact, a defamation notice and, in the EU, a Digital Services Act notice are further routes.
Source: 16 CFR Part 465 — Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials ↗
Related removals
- Google reviews — $350 per review, pay on success
- Trustpilot reviews — $350 per review, pay on success
- Tripadvisor reviews — $350 per review, pay on success
Related terms
- Defamation — Defamation is a false statement of fact, communicated to others, that damages the reputation of an identifiable person or business.
- Community guidelines — Community guidelines are a platform's own rules about what users may post, and breaking them is the most common ground on which platforms remove content.
- Digital Services Act (DSA) — The Digital Services Act is the EU regulation on how platforms and hosts handle illegal content, including a duty to act on notices and to explain decisions, refusals included.
- Impersonation — Online impersonation is pretending to be a real person or organisation — through a fake profile, website, email or ad — in a way that misleads people about who is behind it.