Marketers will be punished for using AI-generated reviews to inflate the reliability or influence of their products and services, the Federal Trade Commission announced this week.
The FTC voted unanimously to implement laws surrounding the fake reviews, which could mislead customers.
“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money,” FTC head Lina Khan said, “but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors.”
The new rule seems to target the use of generative artificial intelligence in crafting reviews, which more and more marketers are using to churn out advertising copy.
Additionally, the new regulations cover fake reviews written by humans, banning the practice of paying for negative or positive critiques. Marketers are also forbidden from using bots or fake accounts to inflate follower counts.
According to the FTC, each violation of the rules could result in a fine, meaning if an online retailer has thousands of fake reviews or followers, it could face a heavy penalty.
The rules are expected to appear in the Federal Register in the next few days and will go into effect 60 days later.
Writing fake reviews for products or services is already illegal under FTC regulations. The updated rules will give the FTC more independence to tackle violations without the help of the Justice Department.
Most large online retailers already have policies banning the use of fake reviews. Amazon, for example, has long had anti-fake critique policies and sued thousands of Facebook group administrators in 2022 for allegedly running a fake review business.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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