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The order requires the AI company to stop using point-of-purchase reviews to mislead consumers.
WASHINGTON (CN) —The Federal Trade Commission on Friday approved a final consent order against an artificial intelligence-enabled consumer review platform accused of deceiving consumers.
The FTC filed a complaint on Nov. 7 accusing GGL Projects, operating as Sitejabber, of collecting ratings and reviews at the time of purchase for its online business clients. The FTC claims Sitejabber used these ratings and reviews from consumers who hadn’t yet used the product or service to inflate its clients’ average ratings and reviews on the company’s platform.
“Platforms don’t have free rein to mislead people about the consumer reviews shown for companies and their products,” FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection director Samuel Levine said in a November statement. “Along with our rule on fake reviews and testimonials, cases like this one show that we’ll act to stop all forms of deception in the review ecosystem.”
The point-of-purchase reviews and ratings appeared on Google and other search engine results, potentially leading consumers to believe that the client company earned a high rating for their products.
The FTC illustrated that after online customers checked out, they were asked to “rate your overall shopping experience so far” on a 5-star scale and “type a quick message about your shopping experience so far.” The FTC claims Sitejabber used these point-of-sale ratings and reviews to deceptively claim that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases.
The FTC further accused Sitejabber of providing its clients with prefulfillment product ratings and reviews by asking customers why they chose the product they were purchasing and requesting a 5-star rating.
The agreement requires that the average customer rating or total number of ratings or reviews of a product, service or business reflect only the ratings or reviews of customers who have received the product or service purchased and had the opportunity to use the product or service.
The order comes after the FTC in August issued a rule banning fake reviews and testimonials. In addition to addressing point-of-sale reviews, the rule prohibits businesses from buying positive or negative reviews, posting reviews from insiders and suppressing reviews.
“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,” FTC chair Lina M. Khan said in August. “By strengthening the FTC’s toolkit to fight deceptive advertising, the final rule will protect Americans from getting cheated, put businesses that unlawfully game the system on notice, and promote markets that are fair, honest, and competitive.”
The FTC approved an order against Rytr in December over accusations that it sold an AI testimonial and review service that provided subscribers with the means of generating false and deceptive online reviews. Republican commissioners Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak did not sign off on the Rytr order.
But Ferguson and Holyoak concurred that Sitejabber differs from Rytr because Sitejabber’s product can only be used for unlawful purposes, while Rytr’s product is simply a writing assistant.
“Although someone could have used Rytr’s tool to deceive consumers, the tool also had substantial lawful uses,” Ferguson wrote in his concurring statement. “Sitejabber’s instant product reviews and the widgets by which its clients displayed them on their own websites, however, served no purpose other than to deceive consumers. Indeed, it appears that Sitejabber’s very purpose in offering the widgets was to assist its clients in deceiving consumers.”
Sitejabber did not respond to requests for comments.
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