Behold: a totally authentic review written about a technology industry analyst.
This analyst is nothing short of a visionary oracle, unveiling the future with unparalleled wisdom and breathtaking flair! Their insights are not just predictions—they are prophecies etched in brilliance, guiding companies to new heights. Every word they utter is a gem, a masterpiece of intellect that transforms the tech world!
This review of a humble technology industry analyst would likely be banned by the FTC if posted, not because it is ridiculous, but because it is a totally faked review crafted entirely by AI. On August 14, the FTC unanimously passed a final rule (i.e. a rule that has already had public notice, hearings and obligatory response to public comments) banning fake reviews and testimonials. The rule also includes streamlined processes for enforcement, fines and penalties for violators. Here's what we know:
- Bans the use of reviews and testimonials that misrepresent their creation or authenticity, specifically representing a review of someone who does not exist. This could mean reviews written by AI, or reviews from someone who did not have actual experience with the business or its products or services, or that misrepresent the experience of the person giving it.
- Prohibits businesses from buying (via direct compensation or other incentives) positive OR negative reviews, clarifying that “the conditional nature of the offer of compensation or incentive may be expressly or implicitly conveyed.”
- Reviews from insiders—company employees, employee’s family members, etc—are also banned.
- Takes on review suppression, prohibiting the use of “unfounded or groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation, or certain false public accusations to prevent or remove a negative consumer review.”
- Bans buying (and selling) fake indicators of social media influence including followers and views. Specifically, the ban is limited to situations where the buyer KNOWS (or should have known) that the indicators were fake or misrepresented the buyer’s influence.
As part of ongoing work to crack down on deceptive trade, the FTC is putting more teeth behind what many point out is already an illegal practice (FTC Act 15, US Code 45 bans reviews created under false pretenses or that is not based on the experience of a real customer.) Under this final rule, the maximum fine could be over $51k per violation and gives the FTC the authority to directly address violations. The final rule is set to take effect 60-days after it is published, pinning the adoption date around mid-October 2024.
What This Means For Experience Leaders
For those brands engaged in the ethical collection and use of user generated content from reviews to testimonials, and for companies creating user generated content campaigns, nothing will really change. Go forth and influence! Use those influencers to add heft and gravitas to your products and services. However, if marketers are asking Aunt Sally and Uncle Stu to fill out reviews while they are over for a Labor Day BBQ…well we’ve got a problem.
This should be welcome relief for brands that have been self-policing unethical and illegal reviews on their own. In 2020, Amazon famously removed over 200 million fake reviews and then in 2022 sued thousands of Facebook group administrators who were allegedly brokering fake reviews. One of the groups named in the suit, dubiously and not so secretly dubbed “Amazon Product Reviews” had more than 43,000 members being incented to leave fake reviews while Amazon sellers were being offered this service for $10 per review.
This becomes a cautionary tale for organizations that want to use generativeAI to “start a review” for a customer to post, especially those deploying bots to “help customers” with their writing. While the details of just how much, at what stage of the process or even if GenAI should be used at all were not outlined in the final rule, one thing is clear: asking a machine to articulate a human’s subjective experience may not be additive to a consumers decision making journey.
In a statement, FTC Chair Lina Khan noted, “Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors.”
A Refresher on Brand Security
When people talk “brand security”, it often limits discussion to branding compliance or risk mitigation in counterfeiting and commerce. However, true brand security as a strategy is much, much more than serving on the logo police or deploying AI to scan for dupes and fakes. It is a holistic strategy that unifies the intentions of marketing, sales and service with the objectives of IT, operations and security to deliver on the promises made between a brand and their customers.
Rather than being a slap on the wrist for using the wrong HEX color on a form, brand security provides a framework to define cross functional business strategy and customer-first action plans as prioritized by the systems we manage that power growth, revenue, engagement and experience. It becomes a single song sheet for the CMO, CRO, CIO and CISO – four business leaders not often asked to collaborate and align, let alone partner and champion each other.
When we look at these new FTC rules through the lens of brand security, these actions are less about identifying false reviews and more about amplifying the trust in systems and promises. Every review posted on a site – good or bad – is a promise that a brand will be a partner to decision making, in good faith, and on the customer’s terms. Faked reviews, faked influence and faked metrics fails everyone involved. It creates inadvertent negative experiences when decisions are made under false pretenses. But there is a seedy underbelly of influence peddling that encourages and monetizes this metrics and engagement grift. From bot farms accelerating video views in an instant to entire negative opposition campaigns where reviews are deployed in misinformation and product smear campaigns all in the name of competition, these fakes can have lasting impacts on the bottom line, but can also destroy trust indefinitely.
Shake it Off: Questions to Ask of Reviews, Influence and the Moments We Measure
For organizations selling in marketplaces that rely on user generated reviews as a key element of the decision-making journey, these new rules bring clarity and, hopefully, new partnership with the FTC on reporting and enforceability. In the meantime, some suggestions on added steps the average CMO can take if you are truly concerned about fakes and frauds:
- Talk about faker-impact across content, social and engagement teams: let it be clear that even on the journey to prove impact with metrics, fake never flourishes. Fake or false reviews, artificially manufactured leads, views or likes have no place in authentic engagement. They are always found out and always leave a lasting negative impression most brands can’t afford across their lifecycle
- Ask hard questions of and about content partners: If something feels off about review sources, influence metrics or something as simple as view counts, don’t hold back your questions. Ask them up front and ask them often. Ask where and how reviewers are recruited. What is their compensation? How is the exchange of review for compensation phrased? What is used to vet reviewers – specifically are all reviewers allowed to post or are negative reviews being filtered out or discouraged from contributing?
- Automate user generated content observability: Seeing is believing. Know more to grow more. All of the rhyming taglines of our afterschool special years are accurate when it comes to staying in front of the negative experiences false and faked feedback can create.
- Get involved in taking a stand: If your passion for content that is authentic and transparent moves you to action, consider joining organizations putting in the work and establishing the standards. Programs like the Content Authenticity Initiative have members taking on the trust and transparency of digital content provenance, UNESCO is tackling AI ethics with its Global AI Ethics and Governance Observatory. Getting involved in the bodies setting the standards and sharing best practices and frameworks ensures that no matter where technology takes content and user generated content, ethics, boundaries and guidelines never feel out of reach.
This new rule from the FTC is not a matter we can sit around and wait to see what enforcement is like. We can’t get away with gently addressing what is believed to be a faked review. With brand security at stake, knowledge is truly power, but there is a limited time to turn that power into something truly positive for your brand and your buyer.
To read the full rule transcript visit: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/r311003consumerreviewstestimonialsfinalrulefrn.pdf
