The ban on fake reviews is coming: avoid fines!

Written by Lana on October 14, 2021

Fake reviews were already unethical, but soon they will also be punishable by law. The government has announced that there will be a ban on posting and having fake reviews posted on the internet. This ban will protect consumers when making online purchases. As a seller, this means that there will be new rules that you must comply with. If you fail to do so, you risk a fine of at least 4% of your turnover. Fortunately, as a review provider, we can take care of this for you. In this article, you can read how we do this.

The ban on fake reviews

A study by Capterra shows that 61% of consumers always check reviews before making an online purchase. So you can imagine that the authenticity of these reviews is extremely important. Yet it has been known for years that there are many fake reviews in circulation. The AD newspaper wrote the following about this:

It is unclear how many reviews are fake, but estimates in various studies vary from 16 percent to a third or perhaps even more. One in ten reviews is also the result of active manipulation. This is the case when a manufacturer promises customers something in exchange for a positive review. There are also unscrupulous companies that leave positive reviews on web shops or social media in exchange for payment.

For many online platforms—including us at WebwinkelKeur—combating fake reviews has become a real sport. Fortunately, the government also believes that this is no longer acceptable. The rules surrounding the ban on fake reviews are all included in the Consumer Protection Modernization Bill that Ministers Stef Blok (Economic Affairs & Climate) and Sander Dekker (Legal Protection) submitted to the House of Representatives last night.

What rules will apply

To make things a little clearer, we have summarized the new rules regarding fake reviews:

Consumer reviews must be checked for authenticity before they are posted (and this is your responsibility as a seller).
There will be a ban on posting fake reviews in exchange for payment.
As a seller, you must be able to demonstrate whether and how you check whether your reviews come from consumers who have actually purchased the product.

The text of the law shows that this mainly concerns product reviews. Many online store software programs offer a standard option on the product page to write a product review. As an online retailer, you must be able to verify that the reviews posted are actually from a buyer (and not from another interested party such as a supplier or manufacturer). WebwinkelKeur can take care of this for you.

Fines of at least 4% of your turnover

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) will check whether online sellers comply with these rules. If they do not, they can impose a fine of at least 4% of your turnover. It is our job to prevent this from happening!

WebwinkelKeur checks reviews for authenticity

As described above, as a seller, you will soon have to check your reviews for authenticity. This is where we come in as a review provider. Our software ensures that only real customers can leave reviews and product reviews. Our software links a review to an order, which allows us to validate that it is a real customer. In addition, our software detects companies that use purchased reviews. This ensures that you comply with the legislation that requires you to check reviews for authenticity. And by collecting reviews via WebwinkelKeur, your customers also know immediately that your reviews are authentic and reliable. What's more, there's really no need to post fake reviews! The basis remains simply providing a good service or product and making it easy for your (satisfied) customers to leave a review. We help you with this by pre-filling details such as order number, customer name, and email address, so that a customer can post a review with a single click. So, do you provide good service? Then we'll take care of the reviews for you!