FTC charges online shopping tool Sitejabber for fake product reviews [Video]

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made some pretty big changes to how companies are allowed to present themselves on the internet, effectively outlawing fake reviews, reviews posted by company employees, fake review sites, AI-generated reviews, etc.

One of the first tests of the FTC’s new policies is a B2B service called Sitejabber, which the Commission has cracked down on.

In a public news post, the FTC charges Sitejabber’s owner GGL Projects, Inc. with violations of the policy. Specifically, it said that Sitejabber’s service asked customers to “rate your online shopping experience” after checkout with a one-to-five star scale and a text box. These “reviews” — of the online checkout experience and not the associated product — were then presented as product reviews for an inflated score.

“Design choices matter when developing these types of products,” wrote commissioner Melissa Holyoak. “And Sitejabber’s design choice here conflated real customer feedback about shopping choices with an …