At the moment it is still the case that consumers on the internet are often misled by reviews. Companies can even ‘buy in’ such fake reviews. Or, for example, they only encourage satisfied customers to leave a review.
Nearly two-thirds of online shops, booking sites, search engines and comparison sites post customer reviews whose reliability is at least questionable, according to research by the European Commission.
The posting of false reviews and recommendations from consumers, whether in the form of reviews, likes, views or followers, is prohibited under all circumstances. For example, companies or entrepreneurs such as influencers or artists sometimes want to ‘buy’ likes or followers on Facebook or Instagram to pretend popularity.
Companies must also take steps to ensure that reviews are fair, and inform consumers about the origin of reviews, how the average review score is determined, and whether there was a reward.
Another requirement of the ACM is that companies if they make a personalized offer to consumers online, inform the consumer about this before making a purchase. For example, an offer can be personalized based on the consumer’s data, such as his personal characteristics, searches or previous purchases.
Tickets
Consumers are also protected against handy entrepreneurs who buy tickets cheaply and resell more expensively. The automated purchase of large quantities of tickets for concerts or events at the same time – for example via ‘crash‘ – to circumvent set limits is prohibited.
ACM will check whether companies comply with these rules, partly through reports they receive from companies and consumers via their own business counter and the ACM ConsuWijzer website.