Featuring Online 

Customer Reviews: 

A Guide for Platforms
Featuring Online Customer Reviews: A Guide for Platforms 2

Consumers who rely on online reviews of companies, products, and 

services should be getting a true and accurate picture of what other 

consumers think. If you operate a website or platform that features 

reviews, have processes in place to ensure those reviews truly 

reflect the feedback received from legitimate customers about their 

real experiences. 

Different types of companies are involved in collecting, moderating, 

and publishing reviews, so the same processes won’t necessarily 

make sense for all of them. For example, an online retailer may 

feature user reviews for its own products and for products other 

companies sell on its website. Other websites are platforms for 

consumers to leave reviews of hotels, restaurants, or other service 

providers. User reviews also appear in search engine results, in app 

stores, and on social media pages, among other places.

FTC staff believes that, whatever your business model may be, 

you should be transparent about your review-related practices and 

should pay attention to several basic principles that derive from 

Section 5 of the FTC Act. Doing so is important for establishing 

consumer trust and avoiding potentially deceptive conduct.
Featuring Online Customer Reviews: A Guide for Platforms 3

Review collection

Online retailers, review platforms, and other companies collect 

reviews from consumers in different ways. Some use “open” 

systems that allow all consumers to submit reviews, while others 

use “closed” systems that limit collection to verified buyers or users. 

Neither system is immune to fake reviews, though operators of 

“open” systems may face more challenges in determining whether 

reviews are legitimate. Some companies are proactive in seeking 

more reviews, using repeated requests and sometimes offering 

incentives to consumers. As reflected in cases brought by the FTC 

and other law enforcement agencies, some of these companies 

go too far, offering incentives only for positive reviews, or taking 

improper steps to avoid collecting negative reviews. 

Here are some basic principles that FTC staff believes companies 

should follow: 

1. Don’t ask for reviews only from people you think will leave 

positive ones. 

2. If you offer an incentive to consumers for leaving a review, don’t 

condition it, explicitly or implicitly, on the review being positive. 

Even without that condition, offering an incentive to write a 

review may introduce bias or change the weight and credibility 

that readers give that review. For these reasons, some platforms 

have prohibited incentivized reviews altogether or have 

established mechanisms for labeling them.

3. Don’t prevent or discourage people

from submitting negative reviews.
Featuring Online Customer Reviews: A Guide for Platforms 4

Review moderation

How a company processes or “moderates” reviews is another 

element that varies depending on a number of factors – for 

example, the company’s business model, size, and resources. Many 

companies use both automated systems and human moderators 

to filter out fake reviews or content that violates company policies 

(such as prohibitions on obscenity and harassment). Companies may 

moderate reviews before they’re posted, after they’re posted, or at 

different times throughout the process. 

FTC staff believes that, despite the wide variety of processing 

techniques, a few basic principles apply:

1. Have reasonable processes in place to verify that reviews are 

genuine and not fake, deceptive, or otherwise manipulated. As 

technology and threats change, be proactive in modifying and 

upgrading your processes.

2. Don’t edit reviews to alter the message. For example, don’t 

change words to make a negative review sound more positive.

3. Treat positive and negative reviews equally. Don’t subject 

negative reviews to greater scrutiny.
Featuring Online Customer Reviews: A Guide for Platforms 5

Review publication

Companies that feature online reviews make choices about what 

feedback to display and what to tell consumers about that feedback. 

For example, some online retailers and review platforms allow only 

narrative reviews, or only narrative reviews of a certain minimum 

length. Others allow reviews that consist only of a star rating. Some 

provide information about each reviewer and how overall ratings are 

calculated. Others are much less transparent. And companies that 

allow publication of incentivized reviews vary on whether and how 

those reviews are identified. 

FTC staff believe that companies should favor transparency and 

follow these principles:

1. Publish all genuine reviews and don’t exclude negative ones.

2. Don’t display reviews in a misleading way. For example, it could 

be deceptive to feature the positive ones more prominently.

3. If you display reviews when the reviewer has a material 

connection to the company offering the product or service – for 

example, when the reviewer has received compensation or a 

free product in exchange for their review – that relationship 

should be clearly and conspicuously disclosed.
Featuring Online Customer Reviews: A Guide for Platforms 6

Review publication

(continued)

4. Clearly and conspicuously disclose how you collect, process, 

and display reviews, and how you determine overall ratings,

to the extent necessary to avoid misleading consumers. 

5. Have reasonable procedures to identify fake or suspicious 

reviews after publication. If a consumer or business tells you

a review may be fake, investigate and take appropriate action. 

That may include taking down suspicious or phony reviews, 

leaving them up with appropriate labels, issuing an alert about 

them, and addressing the issue with those responsible for it.

FAKE

FAKE
Featuring Online Customer Reviews: A Guide for Platforms 7

ftc.gov/reviews
business.ftc.gov

January 2022