READ THEM
Beyond the star rating
The CMA says shoppers often trust 5-star ratings without reading them. Many reviews turn out vague or unrelated to the product.
Check a reviewWHAT THE REGULATOR SAYS
Read the words,
not just the stars.
Most of us check reviews before we buy.
APRIL 2025 fake reviews banned
89% UK adults who use online reviews
- Read, don't skim
- Trust the 3 and 4 stars
- Check another site
- Sharper eyes, better buys
That is exactly why fakes are worth faking. Since April 2025 UK consumer law has banned fake reviews, hidden paid-for reviews and misleading star ratings, and the Competition and Markets Authority has tips for spotting what slips through.
THE SHORT ANSWER
The rules changed,
the habits still matter.
The law now bans the worst practices.
A careful read catches much of the rest.
FREEBIES
Paid reviews must say so
A review written in exchange for money, a discount or a free product must make that clear. Hiding it is now a banned practice.
See the numbers
COMPARE
Look somewhere else too
Checking several review sites helps you spot patterns and get a more consistent picture, the CMA advises.
How to do itGeneral information only, not financial advice. For advice on your own situation, speak to a regulated financial adviser or a free money-advice service.
A QUICK REVIEW CHECK
What are you
looking at?
Pick something you might see on a review page to see what the CMA's tips and the law say about it. The bar shows how much caution it calls for.
Based on CMA guidance and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. General information, not legal advice.
FOUR HABITS TO TRY
A two-minute
review routine.
These follow the CMA's top tips for consumers. None of them takes long, and they work on any site.
Read a handful properly
Skip the average for a moment and read what real buyers say, good and bad.
Start with the middle
Look at 3 and 4-star reviews, which are unlikely to be fake and often the most balanced.
Notice the style
Be wary of reviews that sound too polished, or several that share the same phrasing.
Check another site
Compare what people say on more than one platform before you decide.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
We rely on reviews,
so the stakes are high.
One figure on how many of us use them,
one on what a business can now be fined.
89%
UK adults who use online reviews
Research from Which?, cited by the CMA, found 89% of people use reviews when researching a product or service.
USE · WHICH? VIA THE CMA
10% of turnover
Maximum fine for breaking the law
Under the new consumer regime, the CMA can decide a business has broken consumer law without going to court and fine it up to 10% of global turnover.
PENALTY · CMA
The CMA also swept over 100 review publishers and sent advisory letters to 54 firms. It says 90% of those made changes in response.
WHAT THE LAW BANS
Fake, hidden
and misleading.
Since April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 treats several review practices as automatically unfair: writing or commissioning fake reviews, hiding that a review was incentivised, and publishing reviews or star ratings in a misleading way.
Businesses that publish reviews must also take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent and remove fake reviews. CMA guidance says they should publish a policy prohibiting fake reviews and assess the risk of them appearing.
Questions
Questions people ask
Are fake reviews illegal in the UK?
Yes. Since April 2025, obtaining and posting fake reviews, and paid-for reviews that are not clearly marked as incentivised, are banned practices under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
What counts as a fake review?
The Act defines it as a consumer review that claims to be, but is not, based on a person's genuine experience. Reviews can be text, speech in a video, or a star rating.
Can a business give me a freebie for a review?
Only if the review makes that clear. A review written in exchange for money or other benefits, such as a free stay, must not hide that fact.
Is hiding bad reviews allowed?
No. Removing or not publishing negative reviews while showing positive ones, or giving positives more prominence, counts as publishing reviews in a misleading way.
How can I spot an AI-written review?
The CMA says to be alert to reviews that feel too slick, read as perfectly crafted, or use very similar wording to others, and to look for more detail elsewhere.
Where the facts come from
Updated