Fake Online Reviews: Document, Report, Then Reply

When an online review of your business is fake, document why it does not match a real customer experience, report it on the platform that published it, and answer in public only with facts you can support. Do not buy praise, write fake online reviews of your own, or try to bury honest criticism. The Federal Trade Commission's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials went into effect on October 21, 2024. [1] Writing, creating, or selling a review that misrepresents the reviewer, or that person's experience, is an unfair or deceptive practice under the rule. [2] Courts may impose civil penalties for knowing violations, and the rule does not create a private right of action. [1]

A harsh review is not the same thing as a fake one

Under 16 CFR 465.2, a business violates the rule if it writes, creates, or sells a consumer review or testimonial that materially misrepresents that the reviewer exists, that the reviewer had experience with the business, or what that experience was. [2] The Commission's August 14, 2024 announcement of the final rule uses AI-generated fake reviews as an example of reviews that pretend to come from someone who does not exist. [3]

The same section covers a purchased consumer review, a disseminated testimonial, and a review procured from officers, managers, employees, agents, or their immediate relatives for a third-party site, when the business knew or should have known about the misrepresentation. [2] An immediate relative is a spouse, parent, child, or sibling. [2]

FTC staff say section 465.2 is about what actually happened, not whether the reviewer liked you. [1] Google lets you flag any Business Profile review, but only policy violations come down, and it tells businesses not to report a review merely because they disagree with it. [4] Yelp does not take sides in factual disputes and generally lets users stand behind what they write. [5] If the review only makes you look bad, do not file it as fake.

What you may not do in response

Section 465.4 prohibits compensation or other incentives conditioned, expressly or by implication, on a review with a particular sentiment, positive or negative. [2] FTC staff illustrate an implied demand for praise with "Tell us how much you loved your visit to John's Steakhouse and get a $5 coupon" and "Tell your friends about all the fun you had at Jane's Arcade for a chance to win prizes" [1]. Paying for 5-star reviews on a third-party platform still violates section 465.4 even if the reviewer discloses the incentive. [1]

The rule does allow incentives when nothing requires a particular sentiment, but hiding the incentive can still violate the FTC Act. [1] Google is stricter. Paid reviews, including payment in kind, are prohibited fake engagement. Merchants may not offer money, discounts, or free goods or services for any review, or for revising or removing a negative one. They may not discourage negative reviews or solicit only positive ones. A neutral ask for a genuine experience is allowed, without an incentive and without pressure on the premises, a scripted staff name, or a quota. [6]

Yelp's content guidelines say businesses should never ask customers to write reviews, and they bar reviews of your own business, an employer, a relative, a peer, or a competitor, including reviews drafted or revised with a third-party AI tool. [7]

An officer or manager who reviews the business must disclose that relationship clearly and conspicuously, unless a testimonial already makes it obvious. [2] Staff say relatives may review the business if the disclosure is unavoidable, with no click or hover required [1]. Google still removes family, employee, and competitor reviews as conflicts of interest, and Yelp says not to review a relative's business. [6] [7]

Sections 465.2(b) and 465.2(c) do not apply to a general ask to purchasers about their own experiences, or to reviews you merely host. [2] Staff say you are not on the hook under that section if an employee, after getting the same purchaser email as everyone else, posts a false review. [1] That is not a license to target insiders or only happy customers. The rule has no specific ban on asking only pleased customers, but staff say that practice could still violate the FTC Act, and Google forbids selective solicitation of positive reviews. [1] [6]

Do not threaten anyone into silence. Section 465.7 bars an unfounded or groundless legal threat, a physical threat, intimidation, or a knowingly false public accusation (including one made with reckless disregard) when the aim is to stop a review or get one removed. [2] An unfounded threat is one the law does not support, or one with no real evidentiary support after a reasonable look. [2] A public reply is allowed. Intimidation includes abusive messages, stalking, character assassination, and sexual harassment used to cause fear, not only physical threats. [1] Staff say a legal threat is not forbidden when a review actually defames you and the threat has a real basis. [1] It is not the first step, and the rule gives you no private right of action. [1]

Form contracts are a separate limit. FTC guidance on the Consumer Review Fairness Act, dated February 2017, says a company may not use a standard term that bars a customer from reviewing it, fines someone for a review, or takes the intellectual property in the review. Employment and independent-contractor agreements are outside the statute. You may still block confidential, libelous, harassing, obscene, discriminatory, unrelated, or clearly false or misleading reviews. An opinion you dislike is unlikely to be clearly false or misleading. The guidance says a violation can bring financial penalties and a court order, and it states no dollar figure. [8]

On your own site, you may not claim a review section shows most or all submitted reviews while you hide posts for their star rating or negative tone. [2] A rule applied equally to every review, such as harassment, a reasonable belief the review is fake, or a post unrelated to what you sell, is not that kind of suppression. [2] Sorting by "most helpful" votes is not suppression either, but burying negatives so people cannot find them can still violate section 5 of the FTC Act. [1] Staff say paying to erase a truthful negative review may violate the FTC Act because it distorts what customers appear to think. [1]

Document it, then report it on that platform

Save the name, stars, full text, date, and link, and list similar posts in the order they arrived. FTC staff, describing when a buyer of reviews should have known the posts were likely fake, point to reviews that appear too fast to reflect real use, an unusually large batch in a short time, or reviews of the wrong product. [1] Those are notice signs for a purchaser, not proof that one harsh review is fake. Compare the post with your invoices or bookings. A hunch that "this is a competitor" needs a specific tie. Yelp asks you to include information moderators can check. [5]

On Google, open the Business Profile, choose Read reviews, select Report, pick a reason such as "Spam" or "Profanity," and send it. Evaluation typically takes several days. If the review stays, you get one appeal, and that appeal can cover up to 10 reviews [4]. Google removes content that is not a real experience, posts from multiple accounts controlled by one person, and posts made through emulators or device tampering. It also forbids a post on a competitor's listing meant to hurt that business, and a political rant that is not about a visit. [6]

A demand for money, goods, or services to remove a sudden run of 1-star and 2-star reviews belongs on Google's extortion report, not in a side deal. Do not engage, pay, or offer services. Payment can invite more attempts and does not guarantee removal. Save screenshots of the demand, with date, time, and sender, plus links to the reviews, and submit Google's merchant extortion form. That form is only for a direct extortion attempt. Google reports the outcome and does not describe the investigation. [9]

On Yelp, report the review with what you can verify. Moderators email the result, which may take several days, and they typically tell the reviewer if a post is removed. [5] If they leave it up, recommendation software may still treat it as not reliable enough to recommend, and you can reply in public or send a message. [5] Yelp mentions a final court order only after moderators have already refused to remove a review you say is defamatory. [5] Do not open with a threat.

BBB guidance updated October 21, 2025 says a reviewer must give an email, verify it, and certify that the review is truthful. BBB can block further submissions. A business may challenge a review when it believes there was no marketplace interaction, and BBB then asks the reviewer to substantiate that interaction. [10] The challenge fits "not our customer," not "unfair, but real."

Reply in public, and live with a no

A public reply is allowed if you skip accusations you know are false, or make with reckless disregard, and if you skip threats. [1] Yelp allows a response to inaccuracies. [5] BBB's October 21, 2025 update says to thank the person, answer the specific point, stick to facts, skip a canned script, and move a long argument offline. [10]

If no customer matches, say so, ask for an order number or a date, and stop. Do not name a competitor without evidence, and do not post another customer's private details. Yelp says not to publish private information, including a full name unless the person is commonly known that way. [7] Do not offer money or a free job for a rewrite or a removal. [1] [6] If the visit was real, correct only the detail you can document.

Keep the report and the reply. Do not answer with more fake online reviews. If Google decides the business itself broke the fake-engagement policy, it may restrict the profile: a temporary block on new reviews, temporary removal of existing reviews, or a warning that fake reviews were taken down. Google emails the owner first, and the business can appeal. [11]

On December 22, 2025, FTC staff said they had warned 10 companies about possible Consumer Review Rule problems [12]. Those letters are not formal findings of a violation [12]. The announcement says a violation can lead to a federal lawsuit and civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation [12]. A Federal Register notice effective September 15, 2026 says FTC civil penalty amounts will stay unchanged during 2026, and the agency will keep using the 2025 levels [13].

Practical takeaways

• Call a review fake only when the experience or the reviewer is misrepresented, not when you dislike the opinion. [1] [2]
• Save the review, the link, the timing, and the result of your customer-record check before you report it.
• Use that platform's report tool. On Google, use the extortion report only for a demand of money or favors, and do not pay. [4] [9]
• Do not buy stars, pay for a required sentiment, pose as a customer, or ask only the happy customers to post. [1] [2] [6] [7]
• Reply with a short correction you can support. No threats, and no payment to erase a truthful complaint. [1] [2]
• On your own site, do not hide negative reviews and then imply that visitors are seeing most or all of them. [2]
• If the review stays up, keep the reply. Do not dilute it with more fabrication. [11]

How we can help

Have more questions or want to get in touch? Our team can help you look at a review, the platform rules that apply to it, and a public reply that does not create a new problem. Reach us on our contact page.

Citations

1. Federal Trade Commission, "The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers" (November 2024)
2. eCFR, "16 CFR Part 465, Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials" (2024-08-22)
3. Federal Trade Commission, "Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials" (2024-08-14)
4. Google Business Profile Help, "Report inappropriate reviews on your Business Profile" (accessed 2026-10-05)
5. Yelp for Business, "Will Yelp remove a false or defamatory review?" (accessed 2026-10-05)
6. Google Maps User Generated Content Policy, "Prohibited & restricted content" (accessed 2026-10-05)
7. Yelp, "Content Guidelines" (accessed 2026-10-05)
8. Federal Trade Commission, "Consumer Review Fairness Act: What Businesses Need to Know" (February 2017)
9. Google Business Profile Help, "Report negative review extortion scams on your Business Profile" (accessed 2026-10-05)
10. Better Business Bureau, "BBB Business Tip: Why responding to your customer reviews matters" (updated 2025-10-21)
11. Google Business Profile Help, "Business Profile restrictions for policy violations" (accessed 2026-10-05)
12. Federal Trade Commission, "FTC Warns 10 Companies About Possible Violations of the Agency's New Consumer Review Rule" (2025-12-22)
13. Federal Register, "Civil Penalty Inflation Adjustments" (2026-09-15)