The Australian Competition and Consumer Authority (ACCC) has released guidelines concerning the use and management of online review platforms.

Review platforms are sites which specialise in presenting product reviews about a range of businesses. Consumers expect reviews to be independent and genuine to help them make more informed purchasing decisions.

The publication discusses the impact of user-generated comments and business reviews on consumer behaviour. The ACCC was of the view that both positive and negative reviews are susceptible to misuse and have the potential to distort public perception.

The ACCC is concerned that there is an increase in paid for and fake reviews.

Businesses and review platforms that do not remove reviews that they know to be fake risk breaching the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

Reviews may mislead consumers if they are presented as impartial, but were written by the reviewed business, a competitor, someone paid to write the review who has not used the product or someone who has used the product but written an inflated review to receive a financial or non-financial benefit.