Regulator Tightens Rules on Fake Reviews and Hidden Ads as Grace Period Ends

New prohibitions addressing fake reviews, concealed incentivized reviews, and misleading consumer review information under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) took effect on April 6, 2025. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) simultaneously published comprehensive guidance on these banned practices, offering businesses a three-month grace period to implement necessary changes.

With that grace period now concluded, the CMA has completed an extensive review of over 100 business websites, focusing specifically on their policies regarding fake reviews. The findings reveal concerning gaps in compliance, with more than half of reviewed businesses potentially falling short of the new requirements.

The CMA identified three primary areas of concern in its sweep: policies that were either non-existent or difficult to locate; the absence of clear prohibitions on fake reviews within existing policies; and a complete lack of guidelines addressing incentivized reviews.

Under the DMCCA, any business publishing consumer reviews—whether online or in print—must now take “reasonable and proportionate steps” to prevent and remove fake reviews, concealed incentivized reviews, and misleading review information such as manipulated star ratings. These requirements extend to a broad spectrum of content, from standard consumer product reviews to influencer endorsements, reviews given in exchange for free products, and even simple interactions like “likes” on review content.

“The new prohibitions target the submission, commission, and publication of such content,” explained the CMA in its guidance. The regulator emphasized that while there is no universal approach to compliance, each business must assess its specific risks and implement appropriate preventive measures.

Notably, the CMA has clarified that even when third parties manage reviews on a business’s behalf—such as collection, publication, or moderation services—the ultimate responsibility for compliance cannot be delegated away from the publisher.

The regulator has now written to businesses it deems non-compliant, requesting immediate implementation of appropriate measures. While the CMA has expressed willingness to work with businesses to encourage compliance, it has also made clear its readiness to take swift enforcement action against violators now that the grace period has ended.

For social media platforms, additional requirements include providing content creators with tools to properly label advertising content, implementing both automated and manual systems to detect unlabeled incentivized endorsements, facilitating easy reporting of suspected banned content, and applying proportionate sanctions when violations occur.

Businesses whose products are being reviewed face their own set of obligations. They must not write fake reviews about their own or competitors’ products, offer incentives for positive reviews, or commission third parties to write fake reviews. When working with external partners, they must ensure those partners maintain compliance as well.

For brands utilizing influencer marketing, the guidance emphasizes their responsibility for ensuring proper labeling of all incentivized endorsements as advertising—regardless of whether the incentive was formal payment or informal gifting, and even when the brand doesn’t directly control the content’s creation.

Online review sites must ensure all published reviews are genuine, relevant, timely, and not distorted by fake or incentivized content. These platforms must also clearly distinguish between the processes for leaving reviews versus filing complaints.

Content creators themselves—including bloggers, influencers, streamers, and celebrities—are reminded that all incentivized content must be clearly labeled as advertising, with such labeling visible immediately upon engagement. This applies even to “freebies” received without explicit requests for promotion, as well as content about their own businesses.

With the CMA now empowered to enforce these rules directly and impose significant financial penalties, compliance has become critical for businesses across all sectors. The regulator has signaled that fake reviews will be a priority focus for early enforcement actions under the DMCCA.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) maintains parallel oversight in this space, actively monitoring endorsements using AI-driven systems and publicly identifying influencers who routinely breach labeling requirements. This dual regulatory approach means businesses face potential action from both authorities for non-compliance with either the DMCCA or advertising codes of practice.