§4.2.4 User reviews

Many online platforms and also individual traders provide the possibility for consumers to inform other consumers about their experience with different products or traders. Review facilities are often included in online marketplaces, search engines, specialised travel review sites, comparison tools and social networks. Various studies demonstrate the importance of reviews for consumers’ purchasing decisions. It is therefore, important that the traders that give access to consumer reviews take reasonable and proportionate steps to ensure that they reflect the experience of real consumers with the relevant product. The notion of ‘reviews’ should be interpreted broadly, including practices related to ratings. However, a number of unfair practices have been identified in this area. Traders use different techniques to increase the number of positive reviews for their products on platforms or to reduce or downplay the number of negative ones. To boost their products, some traders organise the posting of fake positive reviews by, for example, engaging specialised companies that recruit actual consumers through social networks or other means. These consumers then purchase the products of the respective traders on online platforms and leave five-star ratings in exchange for specific benefits. Or they incentivise consumers to test their products in exchange for posting their reviews (sponsored reviews) without disclosing the fact of sponsorship. Moreover, the incentivised/fake reviews can influence the product’s ranking and hence visibility on the platform if the platform’s search parameters take into account the review score. Such practices distort the consumers’ choices. Although some platforms report taking measures to limit false reviews, the problem appears to grow bigger and has prompted an increasing amount of public enforcement activity. The effect of these misleading practices is exacerbated by the constant supply gap of ordinary reviews, in particular for new products or for newcomers on the market (352). The UCPD applies not only to the commercial practices of online platforms and other traders that make available or provide access to consumer reviews but also to any trader that organise the supply of reviews for the benefit of other traders. As explained in section 2.3 on the definition of commercial practice, a trader’s commercial practices are subject to the UCPD regardless of the fact whether such commercial practices promote their own products or products supplied by other traders. In contrast, the UCPD does not apply to consumers who provide information about their experience with products or services, unless they can be considered as acting ‘in the name of or on behalf of a trader’ (see further section 4.2.6 on influencer marketing). Misleading practices regarding consumer reviews and endorsements may breach Article 7(2) UCPD, which requires traders to identify the commercial intent of the commercial practice if not already apparent from the context. Directive (EU) 2019/2161 strengthened the UCPD by introducing specific provisions in the area of consumer reviews and endorsements. Specifically, Point 23b of Annex I prohibits traders from stating that reviews of a product are submitted by consumers who have actually used or purchased the product without taking reasonable steps to check that they originate from such consumers. Point 23c expressly prohibits submitting or commissioning another legal or natural person to submit false consumer reviews in order to promote products. It also prohibits misrepresenting consumer reviews in order to promote products. Finally, traders giving access to reviews must inform consumers about whether and how they ensure that the published reviews originate from consumers in accordance with Article 7(6). The UCPD applies to business-to-consumer practices directly connected with the promotion, sale or supply of a product to consumers. Therefore, the reference to ‘products’ in these new UCPD provisions on reviews aims to underscore that they do not apply to other kinds of reviews unrelated to the promotion, sale or supply of a product. Accordingly, these provisions apply also to those reviews that, while not addressing products or their features ‘strictu sensu’, have as their main object the qualities and performance of traders when offering or selling those products. Where reviews about the performance of ‘traders’ in that framework are used as a tool to promote their products, those reviews could also be considered material for the consumer in taking the transactional decision regarding the products of that trader. In particular, where the reviews assess the trader on parameters such as quality, reliability or speed of delivery of products, such reviews can aim at or be intertwined with the promotion of the trader’s products. Consequently, the new UCPD provisions can be applied to such reviews. In contrast, reviews that assess the trader’s qualities outside the business-to-consumer context, such as social responsibility, employment conditions, taxation, market leadership, ethical aspects etc. would likely fall outside the scope of the UCPD, including the new provisions on consumer reviews. Information about the handling of the reviews Article 7(6) 6. Where a trader provides access to consumer reviews of products , information about whether and how the trader ensures that the published reviews originate from consumers who have actually used or purchased the product shall be regarded as material. The new information obligation applies to any trader that provides access to consumer reviews, including where a trader promotes on its online interface the reviews made available by another trader, such as a specialised review tool. Recital 47 of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 explains the scope of the requirement in a broad manner. Namely, the information must cover not only the specific measures to check that reviews originate from consumers who have actually used or purchased the product but also the processing of reviews more generally. This includes information on whether all reviews are published, how they are sourced, how average review scores are calculated and if they are influenced by sponsored reviews or by contractual relations with the traders hosted on the platform. Traders’ information about the steps taken to ensure that the published reviews originate from consumers who have actually used or purchased the product is important also because it will be analysed to assess whether the trader can actually present reviews as consumer reviews in line with the new point 23b of Annex I. This information must be clear, intelligible, and made available ‘when providing access to consumer reviews’, i.e. information should be made available from the same interface where reviews are published for consultation, including via clearly identified and prominently displayed hyperlinks. Prohibited practices Annex I point No 23b 23b. Stating that reviews of a product are submitted by consumers who have actually used or purchased the product without taking reasonable and proportionate steps to check that they originate from such consumers. The new point 23b of Annex I prevents traders from misleading its users as to the origin of the reviews: they must not state that reviews they make available originate from real users, unless they take reasonable and proportionate steps which – without amounting to a general obligation to monitor or carry out fact-finding (see Article 15(1) e-Commerce Directive) – increase the likelihood for such reviews to reflect real users' experiences. Whether the trader’s presentation of reviews amounts to stating that they ‘are submitted by consumers who have actually used or purchased the product’ depends on how it is perceived by the average consumer. The reviews do not necessarily have to be presented in these terms – also more general references to ‘consumer’ or ‘customer/user’ reviews may lead the average consumer to perceive them as reviews by other consumers who have used or purchased the product The necessary ‘reasonable and proportionate’ steps are to be assessed taking into account, inter alia, the trader’s business model – an online marketplace that presents the reviews of its own customers may have to apply different measures than a specialised review service that invites reviews from the wider public without having a contractual relation. Also the scale of the trader’s activity and the level of risk should be taken into account for establishing what is ‘reasonable and proportionate’ for that given trader. For example, large platforms with a high risk of fraudulent activity and larger resources would be expected to deploy more significant means to counter the fraud with consumer reviews than smaller traders. However, the steps to check the origin of reviews should be proportionate also in the sense that they should not make the posting of reviews excessively difficult thus discouraging consumers who have actually purchased or used the product from submitting reviews. Recital 47 to Directive (EU) 2019/2161 explains that reasonable and proportionate steps could include ‘requesting information to verify that that the consumer has actually used or purchased the product’. Such information could be, for example, a booking number. Other ‘reasonable and proportionate steps’ could include: — requiring the reviewers to register; — using technical means to verify that the reviewer is actually a consumer (e.g. IP address check, verification by email); — setting clear rules for reviewers prohibiting fake and non-disclosed sponsored reviews; — deploying tools to automatically detect fraudulent activity; — having adequate measures and resources to respond to complaints about suspicious reviews, including where the trader concerned by the reviews provides evidence that they are not submitted by consumers who actually used or purchased the product. Thanks to the information that traders will publish in accordance with Article 7(6), it is expected to be possible for both the users and the enforcement authorities to assess and to evaluate the steps taken by the trader, also comparing those with the industry best practices that may develop over time. An ISO standard is available in this area - ‘Online consumer reviews: Principles and requirements for their collection, moderation and publication’ (ISO 20488:2018). Annex I point No 23c 23c. Submitting or commissioning another legal or natural person to submit false consumer reviews or endorsements, or misrepresenting consumer reviews or social endorsements, in order to promote products. The new point 23c covers two types of unfair commercial practices: — The first element aims at traders who submit or commission, including buying from others (e.g. from ‘likes factories’ or natural persons) false reviews or endorsements. It covers, in particular, the practice of engaging actual consumers who purchase the product and get remuneration for posting positive reviews. This part of point 23c applies both to the professionals and the consumers involved in these misleading activities insofar as they qualify as ‘acting in the name of or on behalf of the trader’. It does not, however, apply to those traders, in particular online platforms, that host and give access to consumer reviews without being involved in their submission (posting). — The second element aims at traders, including online platforms, that give access to consumer reviews or social endorsements and misrepresent them, such as by only soliciting and making available positive reviews and obtaining the withdrawal of negative reviews. The notion of ‘endorsements’ should be interpreted broadly, covering also practices related to fake followers, reactions and views. The first element aims at ensuring that consumer reviews reflect real consumers’ opinions, findings, beliefs or experience. It therefore prohibits the practice for traders to submit, or engage other persons, such as real consumers, to submit false reviews. As regards the second element prohibiting the misrepresentation of consumer reviews or social endorsements, Recital 49 of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 gives the following examples of prohibited manipulative practices: — Publishing only positive reviews and deleting the negative ones; — Linking the consumer endorsements to different content than the one intended by the consumer. Further examples of manipulative practices are situations where the trader: — provides consumers with pre-filled positive review templates; — engages with consumers during the moderation process to incentivise them to change their reviews or withdraw the negative reviews; — presents consolidated review ratings on the basis of undisclosed and/or opaque criteria. The prohibition of misrepresenting consumer reviews is without prejudice to the rights and obligation of the trader that makes reviews available to suppress fake negative reviews as part of the measures to ensure that reviews originate from consumers who have actually used or purchased the product. Whilst the new provisions in Annex I of the UCPD prohibit the respective commercial practices concerning user reviews in all circumstances, it can be noted that traders that make available reviews but suppress negative consumer reviews without valid reason may also cause the average consumers reading the online reviews to continue using the trader’s services or, in case of platforms, to take a decision to contact a trader which they would not have taken had they known that negative reviews had been suppressed. Furthermore, traders that engage with consumers and/or other traders that make reviews available to prevent negative reviews about them from being published or removing them after publication can also cause the average consumer (who has not yet been in contact with this trader) to select this trader rather than a competitor who has not engaged in such unfair commercial practices. For example: A trader posted ‘likes’ for its dental products on its own website claiming ‘guaranteed real customer reviews’ and then linked the ‘likes’ to a review site, on which the positive customer reviews were favoured over neutral or negative reviews. A national court found it misleading of the trader to claim ‘guaranteed real customer reviews’ (353).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07