---
title: "What is FTC rule on fake reviews?"
description: "The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials is a US federal rule that bans fake reviews, buying positive or negative reviews and suppressing."
canonical: https://damex.digital/glossary/ftc-fake-review-rule/
last_updated: 2026-11-06
type: glossary
publisher: Damex Digital
context_version: 2026-11-06
---

> Damex Digital is an AI visibility agency that gets businesses named and cited when customers ask AI assistants who to hire. This is the Markdown version of https://damex.digital/glossary/ftc-fake-review-rule/

# FTC rule on fake reviews

> The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials is a US federal rule that bans fake reviews, buying positive or negative reviews and suppressing honest ones.

Updated Nov 6, 2026.

It took effect on October 21, 2024. The FTC enforces it, and the rule itself doesn't give customers a right to sue.

The rule covers fake or false reviews and testimonials, buying reviews that must say something positive or negative, undisclosed reviews by a company's own officers and managers, review websites a company controls but presents as independent, review suppression through groundless legal threats, physical threats or intimidation, and fake signs of social media influence, such as bought followers.

Courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations, currently up to $53,088 per violation. In December 2025, FTC staff sent warning letters to 10 companies about possible violations.

The rule doesn't stop a business from contacting a customer who left a negative review to fix the problem, or from asking satisfied customers to update their reviews.

For a local business, that means never writing or buying reviews, never tying a reward to a positive review and never threatening a customer over a negative one.

Example: Example: a contractor who threatens to sue a customer over an honest one-star review, to get it taken down, risks breaking the rule's ban on review suppression.

## Sources

1. [eCFR: 16 CFR Part 465, rule on the use of consumer reviews and testimonials](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/part-465), checked Nov 6, 2026
2. [FTC: The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, questions and answers](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/consumer-reviews-testimonials-rule-questions-answers), checked Nov 6, 2026
3. [FTC: FTC warns 10 companies about possible violations of the agency's new consumer review rule (December 2025)](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/12/ftc-warns-10-companies-about-possible-violations-agencys-new-consumer-review-rule), checked Nov 6, 2026

## Covered in depth

- [Source profile: Local news and best-of lists](https://damex.digital/sources/local-news-best-of-lists.md)

Related terms: [Incentivized reviews](https://damex.digital/glossary/incentivized-reviews/), [Review gating](https://damex.digital/glossary/review-gating/), [Review velocity](https://damex.digital/glossary/review-velocity/)

---

## About Damex Digital

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