Fake Review Policy

Why this exists

A fake or manipulated review hurts everyone, the customers relying on it to make a decision, the honest businesses competing against it, and the value of reviews on ReviewBusiness generally. This page sets out what’s not allowed and what happens when it does.

What’s not allowed

Fabricated reviews. Writing a review yourself, having staff write one, paying someone to write one, or presenting AI-generated text as a real customer’s words. Every review on ReviewBusiness should come from a real person who actually interacted with the business.

Sentiment-based invitations. Deciding who to invite to review based on whether you expect them to say something positive. Every contact you add gets the same request, the same star-rating screen, regardless of what you think they’ll say.

Undisclosed incentives. Offering a discount, a gift, or any reward in exchange for a review without clearly disclosing that exchange. If you incentivize reviews, the disclosure is your responsibility as the business, ReviewBusiness has no built-in incentive mechanism of its own.

Undisclosed insider reviews. A review from an employee, owner, or business partner, submitted without disclosing that relationship.

Buying reviews from a third party. Using a review farm, exchange network, or paid review service of any kind.

What ReviewBusiness itself doesn’t do

• We do not screen sentiment before a review request goes out, every contact gets the identical invitation
• We do not offer any way to generate a review with AI and present it as a customer’s
• We do not let a business change a star rating a customer actually submitted
• Personal review links are single-use, they can’t be reused to submit a second review from the same contact

Enforcement

If we identify or receive a credible report that a business is violating this policy, we investigate. Depending on severity, this can mean a warning, removal of the review in question, or suspension or termination of the account without a refund. We cooperate with regulatory authorities where legally required to.

Regulatory context

Fake and manipulated reviews are directly regulated in several markets, including the FTC’s rule on fake reviews in the United States (in effect since October 2024), the Consumer Review Fairness Act, the EU’s Omnibus Directive and Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, and the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. A business is responsible for its own compliance with whichever of these apply to where its customers are located.

Report an issue

Seen something on ReviewBusiness that looks fake or manipulated? Contact us directly, this applies whether you’re a business owner or a customer who spotted it.