Fake reviews Archives

Fake reviews are now illegal

Businesses are paying big bucks to flood sites with fake reviews and the FTC’s had enough. Here’s how to spot the fakes and what you can do about it.

👋🏻 Fakespot shuts July 1: Amazon’s fake review detector, Fakespot, is officially going offline July 1, 2025. The Chrome extension will stop working, and the devs say it’s been a ride. If you’re ready to break up cleanly, here’s how to uninstall it (highly recommended). Pouring one out for the plug-in that saved me from hundreds of fake reviews.

82%

The percentage of Americans who want businesses to disclose when they use AI. People just want to know if they’re talking to a human after years of chatbot creep, fake reviews and AI content. At this rate, Clippy from Microsoft Word would be a trusted news anchor.

Toxic chemicals found in Temu products

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Officials flagged sandals with 11 times the legal lead limit! Google’s forcing your site to train its AI if you want it searchable. Plus, the FTC is cracking down on fake reviews, and a hack to find cheap flights online.

🛑 I see fake people: The FTC is banning marketers from using fake reviews (including any written by AI), paying for reviews and using bots to boost follower counts. The new rules kick in sometime in mid-October. Will the penalties be stiff enough to keep companies honest? Nope.

Tesla's unsafe autopilot

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Elon Musk’s Tesla has reported over 1,200 autopilot crashes in the past three years. Also, look out for foreign nations spreading misinformation on social media, fake reviews targeting restaurants, and the rise of restaurant robots.

FTC taking on fake reviews

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Do you read online reviews? Here’s why you should never trust them, in 60 seconds.