A U.S. government consumer watchdog wants online shoppers to get more honest reviews 𒅌of the 🎐products and services they are interested in, proposing a sweeping set of rules that will ban what it calls deceptive online practices. 

The Federal Trade Commission is proposing 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:new rules to ban several deceptive online marketing practices, including selling or obtaining fake reviews, buying reviews, or having company officers or associates write reviews without disclosing their relationship.  The proposal would also outlaw the practice of “review hijacking,” where reviews written for one product are repurposed to appear as if they were written for a distinctly different product.

The new proposal would prevent any business from creating or controlling a website that claims to provide independent reviews. Likewise, the FTC rule would prohibit businesses from using legal threats or other intimidation to get online reviewers to chaꦓnge their posts. 

The rule wouldn’t only cover websites. It also bans selling fake social media indicators, like bogus followers or✅ likes. It also covers anyone who buys fake social media indicators and then misrepresents those likes for commercial purposes. 

“The rule would trigger civil penalties fo൩r violators andꦅ should help level the playing field for honest companies,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.  

The agency also noted that increasingly powerful generative 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:artificial intelligence (AI) could worsen the problem of fake reviews, potentially inund✃ating users with phony post🐓s. 

Clearer Rules, Enforceable Civil Fines Needed 

The FTC said it has taken action in these areas on a case-by-case basis before, but never at scale. For example, it brought a case of “review hijacking” against a marketer of vitamins and supplements for tricking customers into thinking it had better-than-average ratings on Amazon. 

Additionally, the agency said a recent Suprem🔜e Court case has made it more difficult to win penalties in court, requiring the government to set up clearer rules and penalties. 

The public will have 60 days to file comments about the proposal, the agency said.