Platform Policy
Fake Review Policy
Fake reviews damage trust for shoppers, for honest merchants, and for everyone on the platform. This page explains what's not allowed and how we handle violations.
What's Not Allowed
These practices are prohibited for all merchants on WiserReview, regardless of platform or market.
Fake or fabricated reviews
Reviews written by people who didn't actually buy or use the product — whether written by the merchant, their staff, a paid service, or anyone else. This includes AI-generated review text submitted as real customer feedback.
Review gating
Asking customers how they feel before deciding whether to send them a review invite, then only reaching out to happy customers. Every buyer in a campaign gets the same invite, regardless of expected sentiment.
Selective suppression
Approving positive reviews while rejecting or deleting negative ones. Moderation tools are for filtering spam, profanity, and irrelevant content — not for managing a star rating.
Undisclosed incentives
Offering a reward or discount in exchange for a review without disclosing it. Incentivized reviews must be clearly marked. The merchant is responsible for keeping that disclosure visible.
Insider reviews without disclosure
Reviews from employees, founders, or business partners without clearly stating that relationship. WiserReview can't detect this automatically — it's the merchant's responsibility.
Threatening or pressuring reviewers
Trying to get a reviewer to change or remove their review through threats, legal pressure, or harassment. Merchants can respond publicly to any review — that's the extent of it.
Buying or selling reviews
Paying for reviews from any third-party service, review farm, or exchange network.
What is allowed: disclosed incentivized reviews
Offering a non-cash incentive (a discount, loyalty points, a small gift) in exchange for an honest review is allowed, provided the incentive is clearly disclosed on the review card. WiserReview handles the disclosure automatically through a visible “Incentivized” badge.
When a disclosed incentivized review is syndicated to Google Shopping, it is submitted with the is_incentivized_review attribute set to true, per Google's current Merchant Review Feed schema. Incentivizing in exchange for a positive review (rather than an honest one), hiding the disclosure, or removing the badge is still prohibited.
How WiserReview Prevents Abuse
Most merchants never need to think about this — the platform is built so that review abuse is hard to do in the first place.
Purchase-linked review links
Review requests are tied to real orders. Each link is one-time use and traceable to a specific customer and purchase. We don't send invites to arbitrary email addresses.
No review gating in the flow
The platform doesn't ask customers for their sentiment before sending them to the review form. There's no conditional routing based on expected rating.
Duplicate and rate limiting
Repeated submissions from the same link are blocked. Rate limiting caps how many reviews a single source can submit in a short window.
Incentivized badge
Reviews linked to an incentive are marked with a disclosure badge on the review card. The disclosure is legally required for US (FTC 16 CFR 465), UK (DMCC Act 2024), and EU (Omnibus Directive) merchants. It is also required for reviews syndicated to Google Shopping, where incentivized reviews are submitted with the is_incentivized_review attribute per Google's Merchant Review Feed schema.
No AI-generated customer reviews
AI in WiserReview is used for reply drafts, grammar suggestions, translation, and sentiment analysis — not for writing or editing customer review content.
Moderation is for content, not rating
Moderation tools can reject reviews for spam, profanity, or irrelevant content. Star ratings are set by the customer and can't be changed by merchants or by us.
Enforcement
When we identify or receive a credible report of a violation, we investigate. For merchants found manipulating reviews, actions range from a warning and review removal to permanent account termination.
We cooperate with regulatory authorities when required. The FTC, UK CMA, and EU consumer protection bodies have enforcement powers in this area.
To report suspected fake reviews or abuse, reach out to [email protected]. This goes for both merchants and shoppers.
Enforcement activity
~15,000
Reviews per year flagged by automated content and fraud checks
~6,000
Removed each year after manual moderation review
~10
Merchants per year warned or offboarded for systemic violations
Systemic violations include paid review manipulation, undisclosed incentivization, and repeated review-gating attempts. Flagging, removal, and merchant enforcement actions are audit-logged and available to regulators on request. Figures updated annually.
Regulatory Context
Several laws now cover fake reviews directly. These are the main ones that apply to WiserReview merchants:
| Rule | Applies to | Key requirement |
|---|---|---|
| FTC 16 CFR Part 465 (US) | Merchants selling to US consumers | Bans fake reviews, review gating, selective suppression, and undisclosed incentivized reviews. In effect since October 2024. |
| Consumer Review Fairness Act (US, 2016) | US merchants | Prohibits contract terms that prevent or penalise customers from leaving honest reviews. |
| EU Omnibus Directive 2019/2161 | Merchants selling to EU consumers | Requires disclosure of whether reviews are verified and how. WiserReview's authenticity page fulfills this at the platform level. |
| EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC | Merchants selling to EU consumers | Fake or manipulated reviews are a misleading commercial practice. Covers fabrication, selective deletion, and undisclosed incentives. |
| UK DMCC Act 2024 | Merchants selling to UK consumers | Prohibits fake reviews and undisclosed incentivized reviews. Enforced by the CMA. |
Report an Issue
Spotted fake reviews on a store using WiserReview, or have concerns about how a merchant is using the platform? Let us know.
Tatvam Cloud Solutions, Inc
[email protected]