Fake reviews are banned, with fines up to $53,088 each: how to spot them before you buy

Star ratings do a lot of the work when you shop online. A federal rule now makes it illegal for businesses to fake them, and companies that break it can face civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation.

What's the rule?

The FTC's Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) went into effect on October 21, 2024. It lets the FTC seek civil penalties from businesses that knowingly break it.

On December 22, 2025, the FTC sent warning letters to 10 companies about possible violations. The letters weren't findings that the companies broke the rule, and the FTC didn't name them. But they warned that violations can lead to a federal lawsuit and penalties of up to $53,088 per violation. The FTC has kept that figure for 2026.

What the rule bans

• Fake reviews and testimonials. Businesses can't write or sell reviews from people who don't exist, including AI-generated ones, or from people who never used the product. Buying them, or spreading them when the business knew or should have known they were fake, is banned too.
• Paying for a particular opinion. A business can't offer money or other incentives on the condition that the review expresses a particular sentiment.
• Hidden insider reviews. Reviews by owners, managers or staff, or by their relatives, must clearly disclose the connection.
• Fake "independent" review sites. A business can't pretend a site it controls gives independent reviews of products in its own category.
• Review suppression. Businesses can't use groundless legal threats, physical threats or intimidation to stop or remove a negative review.
• Fake followers and views. Buying or selling bot followers or views to fake influence for commercial purposes is banned when the buyer knew or should have known they were fake.

What it doesn't cover

The FTC's Q&A page sets out some limits. There is no private right of action, so you can't sue a company under this rule yourself. Websites that host reviews don't have to screen them. Sorting reviews by rating or helpfulness isn't suppression, though burying the negative ones could still break the wider FTC Act.

Incentives aren't banned outright. A brand can send a free product in exchange for an honest review, as long as it doesn't require a particular sentiment. The FTC says failing to disclose that incentive could still be deceptive. "Review gating", where a business asks only happy customers for reviews, isn't specifically banned by this rule, but the FTC says it could still violate the FTC Act.

You're allowed to leave an honest review

A separate law, the Consumer Review Fairness Act, voids contract terms that bar you from reviewing a business, fine you for a review, or claim the copyright in what you wrote. A company can still remove reviews that are clearly false, libelous, abusive or unrelated to its products.

A worked example

This is an illustration, not a real case.

Dana is choosing between two $89.99 air purifiers. One has 4.8 stars from about 2,000 reviews, but hundreds of them appeared in the same two weeks. The other has 4.3 stars from reviews spread over three years, with detailed complaints about filter costs. The FTC's advice is to watch for a burst of reviews in a short time, which "can sometimes mean the reviews are fake." Dana picks the second one.

When it arrives, an insert offers a $10 gift card "for your 5-star review." That's an incentive conditioned on a positive review, which is what the rule bans. Dana can leave an honest review, keep the insert, and report it to the FTC.

What to do now

1. Read the middle reviews, not just the five-star and one-star ones.
2. Check the dates. Watch for a cluster of glowing reviews posted over a few days.
3. Look at more than one source, and check whether a review site is independent or sponsored.
4. Keep any "5 stars for a reward" offers. Take a photo of the insert, email or text.
5. Report fake reviews to the website first, then at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC asks you to put "fake review" in the comments field and choose "Other" if no category fits.

Questions

Can I get my money back because the reviews were fake? Not under this rule, which has no private right of action. If the product isn't as described, use the store's return policy or, if you paid by credit card, a billing dispute.

Am I breaking the law if I accept a free product to review? No. The FTC says the incentive provision applies to businesses that offer incentives, not to the consumers who accept them, and that ordinary consumers can't be liable under the rule for what they say in reviews.

Can a store make me sign away my right to review it? No. The Consumer Review Fairness Act makes those clauses void.

Ways to save

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Sources: FTC: final rule banning fake reviews, August 14, 2024, FTC: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule questions and answers, checked November 8, 2026, FTC: warning letters to 10 companies, December 22, 2025, FTC business blog, December 2025, FTC consumer alert on fake reviews, December 2025, FTC: Consumer Review Fairness Act, checked November 8, 2026, Federal Register: FTC civil penalty amounts unchanged for 2026, September 15, 2026, Logitech promotions, checked November 8, 2026