The Federal Commerce Fee banned companies from writing and shopping for their very own critiques in an August ruling. Now, it is alleging {that a} buyer evaluation web site, Sitejabber, revealed “deceptive” scores and critiques on behalf of the 130,000 companies on its platform. The FTC’s proposed order would cease Sitejabber from “misrepresenting” buyer scores and critiques “sooner or later.”
The FTC’s criticism alleges that Sitejabber collected critiques on the level of sale, or earlier than prospects acquired or skilled a services or products. In a single instance, prospects have been requested to price their general buying expertise out of 5 stars and write one thing rapidly instantly after testing.
Associated: Do You Personal Pyrex Measuring Cups? The FTC Would possibly Ship You a Verify within the Mail
These fast scores and critiques, or Prompt Suggestions Survey outcomes, turn into a part of a web site’s profile on Sitejabber. The FTC says this might mislead folks into pondering prior prospects rated a enterprise’s services or products extremely once they have been really simply ranking the buying expertise.
“Presenting [Instant Feedback Survey] outcomes as post-fulfillment critiques and scores can mislead customers into believing {that a} enterprise’s excessive evaluation rely and excessive ranking means hundreds of consumers have had constructive experiences with the enterprise’s services or products, when in actual fact the scores and critiques displayed primarily mirrored solely prospects’ experiences buying on the enterprise’s web sites,” web page 4 of the FTC criticism reads.
Learn how to Keep away from FTC Scrunity on Your Web site Critiques
Companies can keep away from FTC scrutiny by ensuring their Prompt Suggestions Survey scores and critiques are unentangled from their product scores and critiques — so prospects clearly know what’s being rated.
This is among the FTC’s first enforcement actions beneath its new rule.
“Together with our rule on pretend critiques and testimonials, instances like this one present that we’ll act to cease all types of deception within the evaluation ecosystem.” FTC Bureau of Shopper Safety director Samuel Levine acknowledged.
The FTC’s earlier rule on pretend critiques and testimonials stops companies from shopping for or promoting pretend critiques, together with AI-generated ones.
Associated: Fb, YouTube, WhatsApp All ‘Engaged in Huge Surveillance’ to Earn Billions, In accordance with the FTC
