The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has initiated formal investigations into five prominent companies, including food delivery service Just Eat and online motor platform Autotrader, as part of a significant crackdown on deceptive online review practices. The watchdog is scrutinising whether these firms have violated consumer protection laws that prohibit fake and misleading reviews.
Scope of the Investigation
Alongside Just Eat and Autotrader, the CMA is probing funeral services provider Dignity, customer feedback platform Feefo, and artisan pasta chain Pasta Evangelists. These investigations mark a pivotal enforcement action under new regulations introduced in April of the previous year, which explicitly ban tactics such as posting fabricated reviews, failing to disclose paid-for incentivised reviews, and suppressing negative feedback.
Specific Allegations Against Each Company
The CMA is examining distinct allegations for each firm. For Just Eat, the focus is on whether its ratings system artificially inflated star ratings for certain restaurants and grocers, potentially misleading consumers about quality standards. Autotrader and Feefo are under investigation for allegedly hiding one-star reviews on the car sales platform, with Feefo moderating content in a way that excluded these negative ratings from overall star calculations.
Dignity is being investigated over claims that it instructed staff to write positive reviews for its crematoria services, while Pasta Evangelists faces scrutiny for reportedly offering customers discounts in exchange for undisclosed five-star reviews on delivery applications.
Consumer Trust and Regulatory Action
CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell emphasised the critical importance of genuine online reviews for consumer trust, particularly during times of financial strain. "Fake reviews strike at the heart of consumer trust – with many of us worrying about misleading content when looking at reviews online," she stated. "With household budgets under pressure, people need to know they’re getting genuine information – not reviews or star ratings that have been manipulated to push them towards the wrong choice."
Cardell added that businesses have had ample time to comply with the new regulations, and the CMA is now deploying its enhanced powers to confront the most harmful practices directly. This move follows recent commitments secured from tech giants Google and Amazon to strengthen their systems for detecting and removing fake reviews.
Broader Context and Precedents
The investigations align with broader efforts to curb deceptive online practices. Last June, Amazon agreed to implement robust processes for identifying and eliminating fake reviews, including sanctions for sellers and businesses engaged in review manipulation. These measures involve potential bans from the platform for both businesses that solicit bogus reviews and users who post them, setting a precedent for accountability in digital marketplaces.
As the CMA progresses with these probes, the outcomes could establish important benchmarks for how online review systems are regulated, ensuring transparency and fairness for consumers across various sectors.
