Policy
Fake review
A fake review is a review written by someone with no genuine customer experience of the business, whether purchased, incentivised, or written by a competitor.
Platforms detect fakes through behavioural and network signals rather than text alone: reviewer history, device and IP patterns, timing clusters, and reciprocal reviewing between accounts.
In the United States the FTC's 2024 rule makes buying, selling, or procuring fake reviews and testimonials subject to civil penalties, which shifted the risk from platform enforcement to regulatory exposure.
In practice
Report it through the platform's flow with specifics — dates, why no matching transaction exists — and reply publicly in a neutral tone in the meantime, since removal is slow and uncertain.
Source: FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials
Common questions
- How do I prove a review is fake?
- You cannot prove it, but you can evidence it: no matching booking, transaction, or record, plus any pattern in the reviewer's history. Platforms weigh that evidence, they do not require proof.