Autotrader, Just Eat, and Pasta Evangelists under fire over fake reviews
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched consumer law investigations into five companies as part of a crackdown on fake and misleading reviews.
The regulator announced it is investigating Autotrader, Feefo, Dignity, Just Eat, and Pasta Evangelists to determine whether they have infringed consumer law by using fake or misleading reviews.
Autotrader and Feefo are under investigation for supressing negative, 1-star reviews. It is looking at whether a number of negative reviews were not published on Autotrader’s platform and were not counted towards star ratings, giving consumers a misleading representation of other consumers’ experiences.
Dignity, which offers crematoria services, is under investigation to determine whether it asked staff to write positive reviews about the company.
The CMA said it is investigating whether Just Eat’s ratings system inflated certain restuarants’ and stores’ star ratings, giving consumers a misleading idea of quality when placing their order.
Pasta Evangelists is being investigated to determine whether customers were offered discounts on future orders in exchange for leaving 5-star reviews on delivery apps, without this being disclosed to other consumers.
The CMA noted that while it is investigating these businesses, it has not yet reached any conclusions about whether they have infringed consumer law.
If the CMA finds an infringement of the law, it can require businesses to change their practices and impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover.
Obtaining and posting fake reviews is illegal under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, including paid-for reviews that are not clearly marked as incentivised.
“Fake reviews strike at the heart of consumer trust – with many of us worrying about misleading content when looking at reviews online,” said CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell.
“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.”
“We’ve given businesses the time to get things right. Now we’re deploying our new powers to tackle some of the most harmful practices head on,” she said.
