11 ms·

Does the regulation say anything about deceptively moderating reviews? e.g. deleting all the low star reviews? edit: it doesn't seem so. You just have use some

• peteey 2y ago
  yes, "This final rule, among other things, prohibits [...] certain review suppression practices[...]" https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/16-cfr-part-465-trade-regulation-rule-use-consumer-reviews-testimonials-final-rule https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-no... Further down the notice cites the scenario: "[...] more than 4,500 merchants that were automatically publishing only 4- or 5-star consumer reviews"
  • kentlyons 2y ago
    The actual rule for this part is farther down. Section 465.7b (p161 of the pdf). My reading is basically if the website is showing something that it looks like all of the reviews, then those can't be filtered in this way. But that seems to leave open cherry picking reviews - eg don't imply you're showing them all. ... receiving and displaying consumer reviews represent most or all the reviews submitted to the website or platform when reviews are being suppressed (i.e., not displayable) based upon their ratings or their negative sentiment...
• onlyrealcuzzo 2y ago
  How does this stop one of the most common practices? * Step 1, take a product with a terrible rating * Step 2, create a new SKU for the exact same product so it has no ratings * Step 3, get a handful of fake 5-star reviews (in some way the FTC isn't going to crack down on) * Step 4, blast the old terribly reviewed product that now has good reviews on marketing * Step 5, get 10s of thousands of sales, $$$ * Step 6, let the terrible reviews pour in Repeat to step 1 (possibly under a different brand name).
  • soco 2y ago
    To all commenters quickly pointing out the ways this rule is far from perfect: you are completely right. This being clarified, is the alternative doing nothing? Because that's where we are.
    • maerF0x0 2y ago
      Well, I think where we are is having to prove its fraudulent. Agreed, impractically difficult.
    • conductr 2y ago
      When the FTC says "we're cracking down on online reviews" with things like this the average Joe gains more confidence in them, so yes, the doing nothing approach is actually better IMO.
      • maxerickson 2y ago
        So never do anything unless you can guarantee a particular outcome?
        • conductr 2y ago
          That’s a stretch. But things like this only create a false illusion of safety/honesty which can actually be a tailwind for dishonesty.
          • hluska 2y ago
            So, don’t do anything at all because there will always be an issue with anything you do? Being negative is a weakness.
            • conductr 2y ago
              How about; do things that you can enforce and expect a positive net impact from, do things in a way that will address the dozens of obvious first impression questions that came up here due to lack of specifics. If you’re going to do it, put some thought into its execution and administration. And most of all, don’t make global generalizations on commentary that is quite specific and on a very particular topic.
• sidewndr46 2y ago
  I guess manufacturers will now just have to reject anything other than a five star review immediately. As long as it is not submitted, it cannot be suppressed
  • popcalc 2y ago
    FINALLY a use for MangoDB https://github.com/dcramer/mangodb https://github.com/dcramer/mangodb
    • sidewndr46 2y ago
      That lists a complexity of O(1) for all operations. I'm not sure that will scale. I expect my database to implement O(0) or lower complexity.
      • kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
        Will you settle for O(sqrt(1))?
        • anticensor 2y ago
          Square root of one is still one.
• TZubiri 2y ago
  Come on, regulation can only go so far. The ruling is regarding third party review aggregators, a discussion about self hosted reviews is off-topic.