“The Federal Trade Commission today charged that Sitejabber, a company offering an AI-enabled consumer review platform, deceived consumers by misrepresenting that ratings and reviews it published came from customers who experienced the reviewed product or service, artificially inflating average ratings and review counts. Under a proposed order settling the agency’s complaint, Sitejabber will be prohibited from making such misrepresentations in the future and from making other misrepresentations about consumer ratings or reviews.

“Platforms don’t have free rein to mislead people about the consumer reviews shown for companies and their products,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “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.”

According to the FTC’s complaint, GGL Projects, Inc., which does business as Sitejabber, collected ratings and reviews for its online business clients from consumers at the time of purchase, before they received or had the chance to experience the products or services they bought. For example, after online customers checked out, they were asked to “rate your overall shopping experience so far” on a 5-star scale and then to “type a quick message about your shopping experience so far.” Sitejabber allegedly used these point-of-sale ratings and reviews to deceptively inflate the average ratings and review counts of its clients on the company’s review platform, claiming that the ratings “indicat[e] that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases.” Sitejabber’s inflated ratings and review counts were also displayed in Google and other search results. Further, the complaint alleges that Sitejabber provided its clients with pre-fulfilment product ratings and reviews by asking customers, “Why did you choose the [product] today?” and requesting a rating on a 5-star scale. The FTC alleges that, by providing clients with product review tools that allowed them to publish this feedback on their own websites as product reviews and ratings, Sitejabber provided its clients with the means to misrepresent that the reviews and ratings were from customers who had received their purchases. The proposed order prohibits the company from misrepresenting, or assisting anyone else in misrepresenting, that the average customer rating, number of ratings or reviews, or any rating or review of a product, service, or business reflects the views of customers who actually received the product or service purchased or had an opportunity to experience the product or service. It also bars Sitejabber from making or assisting anyone else in making any misrepresentation about any ratings, average ratings, or reviews it collects, moderates, or displays.