UK CMA Investigates Five Firms on Fake Reviews

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has launched investigations into five prominent companies as part of a broader effort to combat fake and misleading online reviews, amid concerns that such practices erode consumer trust and influence spending decisions worth billions annually.

The regulator announced probes into food delivery platform Just Eat, funeral services provider Dignity, Italian pasta chain Pasta Evangelists, review management firm Feefo, and automotive marketplace Autotrader. These inquiries, which began this week, aim to determine whether the companies violated consumer protection laws by manipulating review systems or incentivizing biased feedback. The investigations mark the latest use of the CMA's enhanced powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which took effect in April 2023 and prohibits tactics such as posting fake reviews, offering undisclosed incentives for positive feedback, and suppressing negative comments.

At Just Eat, the focus is on whether the platform's rating algorithm artificially boosted star ratings for select restaurants and grocers, potentially giving consumers a distorted view of service quality when...