.png)
<aside><div class="post-note-cute">Important Legal Disclaimer<br>This is a general overview for informational purposes only. It’s not legal advice. Momentic isn’t a law firm, and we don’t provide legal services. Ask your legal counsel for specific guidance on how these regulations apply to your business.</div>
<aside>Based on FTC final ruling and FTC announcements, published August 14th, 2024; as well as Morgan Lewis analysis of FTC Final Rule published August 22, 2024; and our collective experience as marketers and consumers since before the Internet.</aside>
In collaboration with: Renee Girard and Tamara Hellgren.
How Did We Get Here?
People have been spamming reviews forever - on Google Maps, Amazon, Yelp, product review websites, and sketchy aggregator sites, like Bizrate - and we have reached a breaking point. Yay!
Enter Fashion Nova, who got hit with a $4.2 million fine in 2022 for blocking negative reviews. They were caught only publishing 4 to 5 star reviews on their website while quietly suppressing anything lower. Of course, they blamed it on their "third-party software vendor" and claimed they would have won in court, but still paid up to settle.
This exposed an industry-wide problem that's been hiding in plain sight.
There's this frequently cited Northwestern MeDill Spiegel Research Center study that marketing sites love to reference, claiming "4 to 4.7-star ratings are the sweet spot" for businesses because that’s most believable to consumers. The idea that perfect 5-star ratings might actually hurt conversion rates is a good indicator of how deep the “review optimization” mindset goes.
Consumers Are Skeptical of Reviews (Well, Duh!)
FTC Chair, Lina M. Khan explains the motivation behind the updated rules:
"Fake reviews and testimonials have polluted the marketplace. They harm the many consumers relying on them to pick products and providers, subverting people's ability to make informed decisions."
I agree, and here’s a real-world example of why it matters.
<div class="post-note-cute">Note: I don’t have a business reason to care about this law firm. I don’t work with any family law firms. Momentic has zero law firm SEO clients. This is a deliberate choice because the tactics in the example above work way too well for local SEO in competitive verticals. What I’d call an ethical approach to local SEO would take forever to compete in rankings with whatever you call the tactic in the example above.</div>
The funny thing is local SEO for law firms is where I’ve seen some of the dirtiest techniques… outside of CBD ecommerce.
It’s gross. It’s unethical. It’s A PROBLEM everywhere. Even my mother-in-law doesn’t read reviews (especially on Amazon). I’m very much into the FTC taking action because its purpose aligns with Momentic’s values and our approach to SEO. It’s also good for me as a consumer of goods and services.
Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Shout out to Casey Cuene for sending this post from r/Milwaukee: a local car dealership offering $500 and an NDA to keep customers from posting negative reviews, allegedly.
So, if you’re still wondering "how did we get here?"—this is how. You've got a business that (allegedly):
- Exhausts customers through a 5-hour sales process (been there?)
- Sneaks in extra charges when everyone's too tired to notice
- Hands out hush money when people get mad
There’s also review-bombing (my experience with Yelp, if I didn’t pay them - apparently I’m not alone) along with other predatory tactics. I get like four calls every single day from "Google Business Profile managers" telling me I need to be “verified”.
Tech Is Not Your Friend
Part of how we got here is that Google (and other platforms) have no real incentive to fix the review problem.
Google Business “Support”
Need to remove a harmful or false review? You’ll have to wait 10+ business days to hear back about it. Have a knowledge graph error showing the wrong business info? That could take 6 months to never, plus $100K in consulting fees.
Getting daily calls from "Google Business Profile managers" right after mysterious negative reviews appear? “You’ll have to use our trusted third-party provider for that”.
API Access to Manage Locations
If you want Apple Maps API access to manage locations at scale, you need 10,000+ locations. If you want access to Google’s, you’ll have to use a third-party “supported review partner”. But you won’t get access to all features. Even major retailers with hundreds of stores get left out. Those teams have to manually manage locations (and comb through reviews) or pay thousands of dollars every year to access a supported review partner platform.
No Competition, No Improvement
There's a reason for the antitrust lawsuits against Google. And I like ‘em. Without competition, there's no pressure to build better review systems or ranking systems. The algorithms reward quantity and recency of reviews—which incentivizes businesses to break the FTC rules!
Shrug It Off & Profit?
The FTC ruling specifically excludes platforms "simply hosting consumer reviews". (page 52). The ruling does not directly address Google ranking systems and how they use review aggregation to display local businesses.
Google profits from the mess it helped to create. For now.
For complete regulatory requirements and specific compliance guidance, consult the official FTC ruling and your legal counsel.
