Honest Reviews and Lessons from the FTC’s Action Against Sitejabber

In today’s digital landscape, customer reviews are one of the most powerful tools influencing purchasing decisions. Consumers rely on feedback from others to guide their choices, which is why businesses that cultivate positive, authentic reviews can significantly benefit. However, as the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently highlighted, there are risks associated with misleading reviews that can severely damage both a brand’s reputation and legal standing. On November 6, 2024, the FTC charged GGL Projects Inc., the company behind Sitejabber, a platform designed to collect and display consumer reviews, with deceiving customers through inflated and inaccurate ratings. The issue stemmed from the way Sitejabber collected and presented reviews—many of which were submitted by customers before they even had a chance to receive or use the products or services they rated. This practice, which involved asking customers to rate their experience at the point of sale rather than after receiving the product, resulted in artificially inflated ratings that misled prospective customers.