While the CMA is investigating the 5 companies, it stated it had “not reached any conclusions about whether consumer law has been broken”.
Since April final yr, the CMA has new powers to fantastic firms for violating shopper regulation with no need to undergo the courts.
Recent information from analysis agency TruthEngine , externalurged that round 50% of reviews on-line are fake.
Internet customers usually are not the one ones who face issues with fake reviews. In 2024, a small chain of impartial eating places in the UK was blackmailed by criminals who threatened to flood its on-line listings with fake one-star reviews except they had been paid 1000’s of kilos.
Sue Davies, Which?’s head of shopper rights coverage, stated: “Investigations are a welcome first step, but enforcement will be key: the regulator must be prepared to get tough, use its powers and issue serious fines if these companies aren’t playing by the rules”.
Before the brand new fining powers got here into pressure, the CMA had confronted criticism for not being strict sufficient with huge tech firms.
“Amazon and Google have both been accused of similar practices, but they agreed some commitments rather than having a formal decision against them,” stated Tom Smith, former director of mergers on the CMA.
In January 2025, Google and Amazon agreed to make important modifications to their processes to assist sort out fake reviews.
