On November 6, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a proposed order for GGL Projects Inc., which does business as Sitejabber, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled consumer review platform, for deceiving consumers by artificially inflating ratings and reviews it published.

In their complaint, the FTC states that Sitejabber had collected ratings and reviews for its online business clients from consumers at the time of purchasing the products or services they bought before having the chance to experience the products or services purchased. Furthermore, the FTC alleges that Sitejabber used these ratings and reviews to deceptively inflate the average ratings and review counts of its clients on the company’s review platform and these were displayed on Google and other search results.

What does the proposed order outline?

The proposed order prohibits Sitejabber from:

• misrepresenting or assisting anyone else in misrepresenting that the average consumer rating, number of ratings or reviews, or any rating or review of a product, service, or business reflects the views of customers who actually received such products or services;

• making or assisting anyone else in making any misrepresentations about ratings, average ratings, or reviews it collects, moderates, or displays; and
• providing others with the means to misrepresent that ratings and reviews collected at the time of purchase were from customers who had received or had the opportunity to experience products and services purchased.

You can read the press release here, the proposed order here, and the complaint here.