Federal Trade Commission Chairman Lina Khan testifies before the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee hearing, May 15, 2024.
Tom Williams | Chongqing Roll Call Company | Getty Images
this Federal Trade Commission Voted unanimously Wednesday to ban marketers from using fake reviewslike those generated artificial intelligence technologyand other misleading practices in promoting its products and services.
All five FTC Commissioners voted to approve the final rule, which will take effect 60 days after publication on the FTC. Federal Registera directory of official government rules and notices.
generally, Rules published Within days of its passage, that means consumers can expect to see the FTC’s ban on fake reviews go into effect starting in mid-October.
“False reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but they also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,” FTC Chairman Lina Khan said in a statement.
In addition to prohibiting non-human beings from writing reviews, FTC rules prohibit companies from paying for positive or negative reviews to falsely promote or disparage a product. It also prohibits marketers from exaggerating their influence, such as by paying for bots to increase the number of followers.
Violations of the rule may result in fines for each violation, according to the rule. This means that for e-commerce sites with hundreds of thousands of reviews, penalties for fake or manipulated reviews may soon increase.
With the rise of e-commerce, influencer marketing and generative artificial intelligence, More advertisers There is a shift towards automated chatbots, e.g. Chat GPT Quickly generate user reviews of products sold on online platforms.
The result: Consumers sometimes end up buying products based on false praise or misleading promises.
Fake reviews are already illegal, and some e-commerce companies are trying to fight back against this deceptive marketing practice.
Take Amazon as an example, sued In July 2022, more than 10,000 Facebook group administrators were prosecuted for spreading fake reviews.
Amazon did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the FTC’s new rules.
Companies that may have self-regulated in the past will now be subject to stricter government oversight under new Federal Trade Commission rules.
Rather than prosecuting individual cases through the Justice Department, the rule would streamline and strengthen the FTC’s internal ability to enforce the ban.
The news came on the same day as the White House held its first “Creator Economy Conference,” during which Biden administration officials hosted 100 online influencers and digital content professionals to hear concerns about the industry.
