London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 16, 2025

'My negative online review was blocked'

'My negative online review was blocked'

The UK has proposed new rules making fake reviews of goods illegal. But experts say that's not the only way companies are skewing buyer perception.

Nathaniel Fuentes wanted to warn others away from the printer he purchased for his son's schoolwork last year after finding nearly every paper it spat out was blurry.

But after the 36-year-old from California submitted his comment on the manufacturer's website, he got a swift reply: "Your review has been moderated".

His feedback never appeared. And suddenly, the glowing reviews he had read before buying the printer looked a whole lot more suspicious.

"I never would have bought it," he says. "I won't do business with them anymore."

Surveys show roughly 90% of shoppers use product reviews to inform their purchases. But the information they glean can be unreliable.

The UK recently proposed rules that would make writing and commissioning fake reviews illegal.

But while much of the attention has focused on the problem of fake reviews, experts say sellers are distorting customer perception in other ways as well, using practices like displaying reviews to their advantage, selectively soliciting comments - and in extreme cases, supressing bad feedback altogether.

Potential issues and conflicts of interest related to reviews have expanded as more brands incorporate them on their own sites and take a more active role collecting them to help sales on other platforms.

"Many companies start with an honest agenda, which is to remove fake negative reviews… but when they do it, it becomes a slippery slope," says Prof Bin Gu of Boston University's Questrom School of Business. "It's very hard to know when to stop."

In January, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a $4.2m settlement with fast fashion clothier Fashion Nova over charges it had blocked hundreds of thousands of poor customer reviews between 2015 and 2019.

Roughly 90% of shoppers consult online reviews


The agency said the firm, known for its partnerships with social media influencers and celebrities such as Cardi B, used software services that allowed four and five star comments to publish automatically, while withholding the remainder for review.

The deal marked the first case to crack down on a firm for hiding bad reviews. Another recent FTC case targeted a contact lens provider, which paid $3.5m to settle charges including that it failed to disclose that it paid people for reviews.

"This is an area of priority for us," says FTC attorney Amber Lee, who worked on the Fashion Nova case. "It's hard to say how widespread a problem this is but one of the reasons we bring cases like this is to send a message to the marketplace."

Fashion Nova declined an interview. In a statement about the FTC settlement, the firm said it had relied on another company to process reviews and "inadvertently failed to complete this process given certain resource constraints during a period of rapid growth".

The company said it had posted the relevant reviews voluntarily after being alerted to the issue in 2019 and that it "only agreed to settle the case to avoid the distraction and legal fees that it would incur in litigation".

The complaints that Fashion Nova systematically hid any reviews below four stars suggest a "pretty egregious case", says Prof Dina Mayzlin of the USC Marshall School of Business, who believes large-scale suppression of reviews is unlikely given the risks of customer outcry.

But, she cautions, "there are usually more subtle ways to discourage negative reviews and encourage positive ones".

The FTC's Sam Levine warned other firms should "take note" after the Fashion Nova settlement


New guidelines also warn firms against practices such as displaying reviews in a "misleading" way, or only soliciting comments from people likely to provide praise. They also say companies must treat positive and negative reviews the same.

Agency officials are also working with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority on its probe of online reviews on platforms such as Amazon and Google.

The government attention has started to push companies to address the worst behaviour, experts say. Amazon for example, last year finally suspended some major sellers that had been accused of soliciting fake reviews, reportedly acting after prodding from the FTC.

"Regulators are…. trying to tackle the manipulation, but it's actually quite hard," says Prof Brett Hollenbeck of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, who found that sellers solicited fake reviews for some 4.5 million Amazon products in 2020.

"Given the importance that we have learned that reviews make for people's purchase decisions, there's a very strong incentive for a company to manipulate the ratings and reviews they're getting."

Keith Nealon is chief executive of BazaarVoice, a Texas-based company that works with more than 13,000 brands, handling more than 100 million reviews a year.

He says his team, which consists of 1,200 full-time employees and hundreds of part-time moderators, typically rejects about 8% of reviews after automated screening for fakes, due to issues like profanity and irrelevance - if the comments refer to shipping, for example, rather than the product.

But he says simply suppressing bad reviews is a "limited" practice industry-wide. His firm, which did not work with Fashion Nova, requires clients to allow comments to flow through regardless of star ratings.

He is hopeful that scrutiny by regulators will help to convince brands of what his firm has long-advised: that allowing poor reviews to be published can build trust in the brand and confidence in online shopping.

"This is moving the industry in the right direction which we welcome," he says.

Lauren Curry says it is increasingly hard to tell what brands are legitimate


For some shoppers, however, the damage has been done.

Former Fashion Nova customer Lauren Curry tried to alert the clothier to a missing order in 2017 - only to have her complaints scrubbed from the firm's social media sites. The 29-year-old from South Carolina says the experience permanently soured her perception of Fashion Nova - and made her wary of unfamiliar companies promoted on social media.

"You don't know who's legit," she says.

As for Nathaniel, after more online research he did purchase another printer. But this time, he says, he didn't buy until seeing it in person.

"We live in a time with a real lack of trust," he says. "Before, it used to be something that was really easy to say, 'Hey - it's a high review. I can go buy it.' Now it's kind of muddied."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
×