Fake Review Laws: UK, US, EU and Australia in Plain English

Fake reviews are illegal in the UK, the US, the EU and Australia. The UK banned them, along with hidden incentivised reviews, from 6 April 2025. The US FTC rule has applied since 21 October 2024. EU rules apply from 28 May 2022, and Australia’s consumer law bans misleading reviews. Ask genuine customers only, with nothing in return.

Why this matters to a small business

Fake reviews used to be mainly a platform problem: Google or Tripadvisor removed them, and that was the end of it. That has changed. The UK, the US, the EU and Australia all treat fake and manipulated reviews as a breach of consumer law, and regulators can act against the business that benefits, not only the person who wrote the review.

This guide summarises the main rules in plain English, with links to each official source. It is general information, not legal advice. Laws change, and how they apply depends on your business; check the official guidance or ask a legal adviser if you are unsure. Every date below was checked against the official source.

The four markets at a glance

Where review cards fit

None of these laws stop you asking real customers for an honest review. That is what an NFC review card does: it opens your review page for whoever taps it. Used with every customer, and with nothing offered in return, our NFC review cards are simply an easier way to ask. Used selectively, or paired with a reward, they could break both platform rules and some of the laws below.

United Kingdom: the DMCC Act 2024

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 added a new banned practice on reviews, in force from 6 April 2025. Banned practices are automatically unfair and illegal. The Competition and Markets Authority’s fake reviews guidance (CMA208) explains what it covers:

• Writing or commissioning fake reviews — reviews that do not reflect a genuine experience.
• Concealed incentivised reviews: reviews given in return for money, a discount or another benefit, where the incentive is hidden.
• Publishing consumer reviews, or ratings worked out from them, in a misleading way.
• Businesses that publish reviews must take steps to prevent fake reviews and hidden incentivised reviews from appearing.

The CMA can now decide for itself whether consumer law has been broken and can impose fines, rather than having to go to court first. The government’s guidance on reviews and endorsements gives “a free stay at a hotel” as an example of an incentive that must not be hidden.

United States: the FTC rule

The Federal Trade Commission’s Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) took effect on 21 October 2024. The FTC’s announcement lists what it prohibits:

• Fake or false reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones and reviews by people with no real experience of the business.
• Buying reviews: offering a reward that depends on the review being positive (or negative).
• Insider reviews written by officers or managers without clearly disclosing the connection.
• Company-controlled review websites that claim to be independent.
• Review suppression: using unfounded legal threats, intimidation or false accusations to stop or remove negative reviews, or claiming your site shows all or most reviews when negative ones were hidden.
• Buying or selling fake social media followers or views for commercial purposes.

The rule lets courts impose civil penalties for knowing violations, according to the FTC’s questions and answers on the rule. The same page says the rule does not specifically ban asking only customers you think are happy, but that the practice could still break the FTC Act. Our guide to review gating explains why that practice backfires anyway.

European Union: the Omnibus Directive

Directive (EU) 2019/2161, often called the Omnibus Directive, updated the EU’s rules on unfair commercial practices. EU countries had to apply its measures from 28 May 2022. On reviews it does three things:

• A business that gives access to consumer reviews must tell people whether and how it checks that the reviews come from consumers who actually used or bought the product.
• Claiming that reviews come from real buyers or users, without taking reasonable and proportionate steps to check, is banned.
• Submitting fake reviews, commissioning someone else to do so, or misrepresenting reviews to promote products is banned.

The directive’s recitals give “publishing only positive reviews and deleting the negative ones” as an example of manipulation. Each EU country enforces the rules through its own consumer authority, so penalties and procedures vary.

Australia: ACCC guidance

In Australia, misleading reviews fall under the general consumer law ban on misleading conduct. The ACCC’s guidance on online reviews says it is against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so. It also warns against:

• Suppressing or editing negative reviews, or removing genuine negative reviews.
• Offering incentives for positive reviews. If any incentive is offered, the ACCC says it must apply whether the review is positive or negative, and be clearly disclosed.
• Hiding a commercial relationship behind a review.

If a business believes a review about it is fake, the ACCC suggests contacting the review platform to ask for removal, or replying to correct the record.

Reviews on your own website

Several of these rules apply with extra force to reviews you publish yourself — on your website, in an online shop or in adverts. You control what appears there, so you are responsible for how it is shown:

• Do not leave out genuine negative reviews or show only the best ones as if they were all of them.
• In the EU and the UK, explain whether and how you check that reviews come from real customers.
• Do not edit reviews to change their meaning, and do not write or rewrite reviews for customers.
• Show ratings worked out from reviews accurately, and update them as new reviews arrive.

Reviews on Google, Tripadvisor or Trustpilot are published by the platform, but the rules on how you obtain them still apply to you.

Key dates

• 28 May 2022: EU countries apply the Omnibus Directive’s rules on reviews.
• 21 October 2024: the FTC Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials takes effect in the US.
• 6 April 2025: the UK’s DMCC Act ban on fake and concealed incentivised reviews applies.

Australia has no single start date for review rules: the general ban on misleading conduct applies to reviews as it does to any other claim.

What the four have in common

• Fake reviews are banned everywhere — writing them, buying them and commissioning them.
• Rewards linked to a positive review are banned or treated as misleading.
• Hiding or deleting genuine negative reviews is a problem in all four.
• Reviews by owners, staff or insiders must not be passed off as independent customer reviews.

Platform rules go further

Some laws allow an incentive if it is disclosed and offered whatever the review says. Google does not. Google’s policy on fake engagement bans any incentive for a review, disclosed or not, and bans review gating. Tripadvisor and Trustpilot have similar rules. In practice, the platform rule is the one to follow, because it is the stricter one. Our guide to Google’s review policy for businesses explains it in full.

A plain checklist for a small business

1. Ask real customers only, and ask every customer the same way.
2. Offer nothing in return for a review: no discount, freebie, prize draw or upgrade.
3. Do not filter customers with a survey before sending them to a review site.
4. Owners, staff, their families and contractors do not review the business.
5. Never buy reviews, and never swap reviews with other businesses.
6. Do not delete, hide or bury genuine negative reviews you control, such as reviews on your own website.
7. Reply to critical reviews calmly and truthfully; never threaten a reviewer.
8. If you show reviews on your own website, say whether and how you check them.
9. Write the routine down and share it with the team.

Healthcare businesses have extra privacy duties when they reply; our guide to Google reviews for clinics and dentists covers them.

If you spot fake reviews about you

Report the review through the platform’s own tools — on Google, from your Business Profile. Reply calmly if a reply would help readers, without accusing the reviewer of anything you cannot show. Do not respond with fake positive reviews of your own. In the UK, the US and Australia you can also report fake reviews to the regulator, through the reporting tools on their websites.

The rules, in short

Never offer incentives for reviews. Never ask only happy customers — that is review gating. Never write, buy or swap fake reviews. Owners, staff and their families must not review their own business. A review card cannot promise stars or a number of reviews; it only makes asking real customers easier. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

Questions

Are fake reviews illegal in the UK?

Yes. Since 6 April 2025, the DMCC Act 2024 bans fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews as an automatically unfair practice. The CMA enforces it.

When did the FTC fake review rule take effect?

On 21 October 2024. It is the FTC Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465.

What does EU law say about reviews?

Under the Omnibus Directive, applied from 28 May 2022, businesses must say whether and how they check reviews, and fake or misrepresented reviews are banned.

Can I offer an incentive for a review if I disclose it?

Some laws allow disclosed incentives offered whatever the review says, but Google bans all incentives for reviews. Follow the stricter rule.

Can my staff review my business?

No. Google removes reviews written with a conflict of interest, and several laws ban insider reviews passed off as independent.

Is this legal advice?

No. It is a plain-English summary with links to official sources. Check the official guidance or a legal adviser for your situation.