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FTC's rule banning fake online reviews goes into effect

(abcnews.go.com)
374 points indus | 12 comments | 22 Oct 24 15:21 UTC | HN request time: 1.142s | source | bottom
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bragr ◴[22 Oct 24 15:27 UTC] No.41915238[source]▶
Does the regulation say anything about deceptively moderating reviews? e.g. deleting all the low star reviews?

edit: it doesn't seem so. You just have use some weasel language:

>The final rule also bars a business from misrepresenting that the reviews on a review portion of its website represent all or most of the reviews submitted when reviews have been suppressed based upon their ratings or negative sentiment.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/...

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onlyrealcuzzo ◴[22 Oct 24 15:48 UTC] No.41915513[source]▶
How does this stop one of the most common practices?

* Step 1, take a product with a terrible rating

* Step 2, create a new SKU for the exact same product so it has no ratings

* Step 3, get a handful of fake 5-star reviews (in some way the FTC isn't going to crack down on)

* Step 4, blast the old terribly reviewed product that now has good reviews on marketing

* Step 5, get 10s of thousands of sales, $$$

* Step 6, let the terrible reviews pour in

Repeat to step 1 (possibly under a different brand name).

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maerF0x0 ◴[22 Oct 24 15:56 UTC] No.41915601[source]▶
This is an important thing to tackle too. Amazon is notorious for allowing shady practices like Sell product A for lots of 5* reviews, then change the product listing to a completely different thing (which may or may not deserve 5) ...

Another aspect is review solicitation. eg: ios games often pop up with their own modal of "Rate us" and if you click 5 it redirects you to app store to make a review, if you click 4 or less it redirects you to a feedback form. They grease the path for positive reviewers.

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1. MBCook ◴[22 Oct 24 16:55 UTC] No.41916239[source]▶
iOS: That’s 100% against the rules. Much like other dark patterns like forcing a sign up or location access as gating to the rest of the app. Or using notifications for advertising.

Now if only Apple would enforce those (or stop doing them themselves).

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2. schmidtleonard ◴[22 Oct 24 17:00 UTC] No.41916279[source]▶
Unenforced rules aren't rules so much as taxes on the honest.
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3. avandekleut ◴[22 Oct 24 17:01 UTC] No.41916280[source]▶
oof - the app we work on at my company does all of these..
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4. MichaelZuo ◴[22 Oct 24 17:12 UTC] No.41916400[source]▶
That’s a pretty clever phrase!
5. ahoka ◴[22 Oct 24 18:57 UTC] No.41917482[source]▶
Did you just have an “Are we the baddies?” moment?
replies(1): >>41918804 #
6. MBCook ◴[22 Oct 24 18:58 UTC] No.41917494[source]▶
Well I understand why people don’t like some of them, the truth is the vast majority of the App Store rules are really good as an end user/consumer.

Unfortunately Apple doesn’t seem to care unless the rule is really good for Apple.

7. rgovostes ◴[22 Oct 24 20:04 UTC] No.41918138[source]▶
I've thought about starting a page to call out the apps that abuse push notifications for ads to show that Apple isn't enforcing its rule.

> 4.5.4 ... Push Notifications should not be used for promotions or direct marketing purposes unless customers have explicitly opted in to receive them via consent language displayed in your app’s UI, and you provide a method in your app for a user to opt out from receiving such messages. Abuse of these services may result in revocation of your privileges.

The worst offender is DoorDash. If you turn off push ads, after you place an order it will prompt you to turn on notifications "to get the latest on your order". Agreeing turns on ads. You get the prompt even if you already have order update notifications enabled.

replies(1): >>41919181 #
8. JacobThreeThree ◴[22 Oct 24 21:16 UTC] No.41918804{3}[source]▶
They probably get way more reviews with the prompt, and positive ones, than without it, despite how some morally indignant outlier HN commenters would react.
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9. Dalewyn ◴[22 Oct 24 22:01 UTC] No.41919181[source]▶
I block every single notif from nearly every single program on my phone. The only real exceptions are my bank and brokerage and games I play everyday; you know, stuff I actually care about.

I haven't lost anything from blocking the rest, and I'm not about to start allowing now.

"Notif" because it's Not a question of If I will allow them, also because it's not worthy of being called by a full and proper name.

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10. potato3732842 ◴[22 Oct 24 22:15 UTC] No.41919291[source]▶
And a potential cudgel with which to strike those who's success is inconvenient.
11. dgfitz ◴[22 Oct 24 22:18 UTC] No.41919308{3}[source]▶
I just don’t install apps.
12. MBCook ◴[23 Oct 24 00:05 UTC] No.41920066{4}[source]▶
Oh they absolutely work. And given that ratings are about the only thing that matters in the App Store besides search ads, there is a huge incentive to push for it no matter how horrible it is for the user.