
We’ve all been there: online review sections flooded with fishy five-star reviews that are suspiciously bereft of anything negative. Fake online reviews are, to put it scientifically, literally the worst. “There’s just no way,” you think to yourself as you scroll through page after page of gushing testimonials for some cheap, knockoff product.
But there’s some light at the end of the scammy tunnel: In a first-of-its-kind case, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is cracking down on manipulated consumer reviews. On Tuesday, the FTC doled out a $4.2 million fine to California fast-fashion retailer, Fashion Nova, for blocking negative comments on its products. The release from the FTC states that the company, “suppressed reviews with ratings lower than four stars out of five.”