Just Eat and Autotrader face fake reviews investigation
Just Eat and Autotrader are among five firms being probed by the competition watchdog as it uses new fake review rules to crack down on businesses.
The food delivery firm’s ratings system may have inflated the star ratings of some restaurants and grocers, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), while the used car seller may have failed to count some one-star reviews towards its overall rating.
The new guidance, launched in April, banned companies from posting fake reviews, hiding negative feedback and posting paid-for reviews which are not clearly marked as adverts.
The CMA is also investigating funeral firm Dignity and restaurant chain Pasta Evangelists, as well as customer feedback firm Feefo – which moderated the Autotrader reviews called into question by the watchdog.
The funeral firm may have asked staff to write positive reviews about the company’s crematorium services, the CMA said.
Pasta Evangelists is under investigation over whether the spaghetti seller offered customers discounts on future orders in exchange for five-star reviews on delivery apps.
Fake reviews a threat as Brits short on cash
Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said: “Fake reviews strike at the heart of consumer trust – with many of us worrying about misleading content when looking at reviews online.
“With household budgets under pressure, people need to know they’re getting genuine information – not reviews or star-ratings that have been manipulated to push them towards the wrong choice.”
The CMA granted firms a three month grace period following the launch of its new rules, in which it helped businesses meet the new requirements and promised not to investigate breaches.
But this period ended long ago and the watchdog said it is preparing to crack down on companies who have failed to adapt to the new rules.
“We’ve given businesses the time to get things right. Now we’re deploying our new powers to tackle some of the most harmful practices head on,” Cardell said.
CMA launches crackdown
After trawling the websites of more than 100 businesses, the CMA said more than half could be in breach of the new rules because they do not have sufficient policies banning fake reviews.
The watchdog said: “The results have raised concerns over businesses’ understanding of their obligations around the prevention of fake and misleading reviews – and the CMA is stepping in to address this.”
The watchdog is writing to each of these 54 non-compliant companies to remind them of the new rules and recommend they make changes.
A spokesperson for Just Eat said: “Our goal has always been to create a platform that works for everyone – from the people ordering their favourite meals to our restaurants and retail partners serving their communities.
A spokesperson for Pasta Evangelists said: “We take the integrity and transparency of customer reviews extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring that our practices are fully compliant with consumer law.
A spokesperson for Dignity said: “We take the CMA’s concerns extremely seriously and are fully cooperating with its investigation relating to the Crematorium and Memorial Group (CMG), a business division within our group.”
A Feefo spokesperson said: “We welcome the opportunity to engage with the regulator to demonstrate our fair, robust, transparent and structured moderation processes.”
The firms said they are fully co-operating with the CMA’s investigation.
Autotrader was contacted for comment.