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FTC's rule banning fake online reviews goes into effect

(abcnews.go.com)
374 points indus | 8 comments | 22 Oct 24 15:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.816s | source | bottom
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burningChrome ◴[22 Oct 24 16:04 UTC] No.41915692[source]▶
>> > the rule bans reviews and testimonials attributed to people who don’t exist or are generated by artificial intelligence, people who don’t have experience with the business or product/services, or misrepresent their experience.

I guess they don't know about how people scam Amazon reviews by getting legit people to simply buy the product and leave a five star review and then get reimbursed for their purchase later by the company or the company the company hired to get these people to do this.

(From 2022) Inside the Underground Market for Fake Amazon Reviews

https://www.wired.com/story/fake-amazon-reviews-underground-...

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1. WesternWind ◴[22 Oct 24 16:21 UTC] No.41915893[source]▶
Actually that's covered by the rule.

Buying Positive or Negative Reviews: The final rule prohibits businesses from providing compensation or other incentives conditioned on the writing of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment, either positive or negative. It clarifies that the conditional nature of the offer of compensation or incentive may be expressly or implicitly conveyed.

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2. LinuxBender ◴[22 Oct 24 17:08 UTC] No.41916365[source]▶
I hope this is actively enforced with real teeth very soon. I 1-star fake products and call them out in reviews resulting in the devious vendor somehow being able to send me a postcard to my real physical address offering money for 5 stars. The sham vendor also spam my email weekly. Amazon appears to actively support this process. It needed to be curtailed decades ago.
3. burningChrome ◴[22 Oct 24 18:34 UTC] No.41917264[source]▶
>> The final rule prohibits businesses from providing compensation or other incentives.

Amazon has had this rule in place for a long time and I still get cards in the boxes of the stuff I buy, "Give us a 5 star review and get 30% off your next purchase!"

Clearly Amazon doesn't know about this or isn't generally enforcing it. I'm wondering how the FTC is going to patrol this since Amazon has already had this rule in place for a while and it hasn't dissuaded sellers from changing their habits.

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4. bluGill ◴[22 Oct 24 19:25 UTC] No.41917766[source]▶
The FTC can force Amazon to do more about it. Just proving they are trying would be a big help.
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5. notinmykernel ◴[22 Oct 24 19:31 UTC] No.41917838{3}[source]▶
Amazon is currently providing a LLM-generated summary of these faked customer reviews. To abide by the FTC ruling, Amazon would now have to prove that all of their training data is legitimate customer reviews. Do you think they will actually do that?
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6. bluGill ◴[22 Oct 24 19:51 UTC] No.41918018{4}[source]▶
If the FTC wants to they can. The government as a lot more power than Amazon, the only question is will they use it.
7. arealaccount ◴[22 Oct 24 21:02 UTC] No.41918667[source]▶
The people I've met that leave reviews for free product aren't required to leave any "particular sentiment". They just rely on tacit laws of reciprocity.
8. crazygringo ◴[22 Oct 24 21:38 UTC] No.41918999[source]▶
I've gotten lots of offers of discounts in exchange for a review.

Not one has ever conditioned it on expressing a certain sentiment, rating, or anything at all.

But I think most people feel strongly enough they should leave a positive review in exchange for money. It doesn't even need to be said.