The FTC has been busy as the Biden presidency winds down. A few days ago they finalized "Click to Cancel," which requires businesses to make it as easy to cancel an order or subscription as it is to purchase one in the first place:
1. Too often, businesses make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription.
Today @FTC finalized a rule requiring that businesses make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. https://t.co/kAQM7OChHe
— Lina Khan (@linakhanFTC) October 16, 2024
Today they announced a ban on fake reviews:
1. People rely on online reviews to make informed purchases and compare products.
When companies use fake reviews, consumers get misled and honest businesses lose out.
Today @FTC finalized a rule to prohibit fake reviews. https://t.co/llOOBvPRHY
— Lina Khan (@linakhanFTC) August 14, 2024
I don't know how effective these new rules will be, but three cheers to Lina Khan for trying.
Both of these rules are great. Both will be helpful. It will be interesting to see how the fake review rule works out.
Reviews are extremely useful if used carefully. Having them diluted by a bunch of shills makes them far less useful.
One problem with reviews is that people who are happy with a product tend not to post a review. Those who had some sort of bad experience are more likely to post. Also, people with unrealistic expectations or little understanding of how to use a product tend to vent their frustrations in reviews.
It is almost like someone running the FTC cares about the public.
Too bad they can't ban fake (lies) presidential campaigns.
Start the countdown to the Supreme Court ruling that both bans violate the First Amendment. . .
I trust the definition of a fake review is comprehensive and included in this new rule?
".gov" still uses Xitter? Did the announcement also go out on any other social media platforms?
As someone who likes to talk about being honest but would someday like to run a business where I can extract as much profit as I can without overtly breaking the law, I am deeply concerned with this recent bout of communism designed to take away my freedoms.
How is it determined if the review is "fake"? Who is monitoring the reviews and how is the regulation enforced? If someone posts a bunch of fake negative reviews against a business, the owner of that business could report it. But if a company hires shills to make positive reviews about its own business, how would this be caught? It's great if they can effectively do. Just curious how it will work.
It's not just that she's trying. She's creating a foundation for people to force companies to pay more attention to fake reviews.
She's one of the best, most consequential FTC chairpersons in a very long time. 💖