Consumer reviews
If you collect and give access to consumer reviews on your online interface, be transparent about how you ensure that these reviews come from actual customers who purchased or used the product or service.
Treat all reviews received fairly and equally, including the negative ones. Do not post and do not engage others to post fake consumer reviews to promote your products!
Consumer reviews are important because they influence consumers’ purchasing decisions. This is why it is important to be transparent about how the consumer reviews that you collect and host on your website or platform are processed and how their origin is checked.
Tell the consumers how you ensure that these reviews come from real customers who have used or purchased the product in question by explaining the checks you have put in place, both organisational and technical. If you have not put such checks in place, explain this and make it absolutely clear that these contributions are not necessarily reviews by consumers who have used or purchased the products in question.
It is prohibited to manipulate consumer reviews such as by deleting all the negative ones or requiring the consumers who submitted the negative reviews to change or withdraw them. You are also not allowed to buy fake reviews and endorsements, including ‘likes’ on social media posts, or to engage consumers to review your products in exchange for remuneration without disclosing the fact of sponsorship.
When providing access to consumer reviews on your website, you have to take reasonable and proportionate organisational and technical measures to ensure that the reviews originate from consumers who have used or purchased the product and thus reflect the opinion and experience of real customers. You should also publish all reviews, including the negative ones, and never engage anybody to submit fake consumer reviews to promote your products!
Read more about this policy and how to apply it in practice in the European Commission Notice: Guidance on the interpretation and application of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (section 4.2.4. “User reviews”).