Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Real product reviews are a great tool for helping consumers make better, informed decisions. Many of these reviews come from real customers who really used the product. Other reviews, however—particularly those on websites, in blogs, and on social media—are not from legitimate customers but come from companies that use fake reviews to paint a pretty picture of their products and boost their bottom line.
Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) set its sights on a cosmetic company accused of posting fake consumer reviews of its own products online. According to a leaked internal email, the CEO of the company allegedly pressured employees to post positive reviews of new products that the company had recently released and even provided detailed instructions regarding what the employees should write about the product in reviews as well as how to avoid having the reviews traced back to the company’s IP address by using a VPN. Continue reading ›