The FTC Consumer Review Rule and review removal
The FTC's Consumer Review Rule has been in force since October 2024. It bans fake reviews and review suppression, with penalties of up to $53,088 per violation. This guide explains what the rule says and what it means for removing reviews from Trustpilot. We remove reviews by the method the rule leaves alone: reporting rule breaches to the platform. You pay per removal.
By James Tumbucon. Published · Updated . Reviewed against Trustpilot’s guidelines on
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Short answer
The FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, took effect on October 21, 2024. It bans fake reviews, incentives for reviews with a set sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews, fake independent review sites, review suppression and fake social media indicators. Flagging a review to Trustpilot because it breaks Trustpilot's rules is not suppression. Threatening reviewers, paying them to delete, or challenging reviews only because they are negative puts a business at risk. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
Key facts
The FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials is 16 CFR Part 465, in effect since October 21, 2024.
Section 465.7 bans using groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation or knowingly false accusations to prevent or remove a review.
Maximum civil penalty: $53,088 per violation.
Source: FTC Publishes Inflation-Adjusted Civil Penalty Amounts for 2025, Federal Trade Commission
The FTC says the rule covers reputation management companies as well as the businesses that hire them.
Source: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers, Federal Trade Commission
Section 465.7 lists what suppression is. Asking a platform to apply its own rules is not one of the listed acts.
The rule at a glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Formal name | Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials |
| Citation | 16 CFR Part 465 |
| Announced | August 14, 2024 |
| In effect | October 21, 2024 |
| Penalty | Civil penalties for knowing violations, up to $53,088 per violation |
| Who is covered | Businesses and those working for them, including reputation management companies |
What the rule prohibits
| Section | In plain words |
|---|---|
| § 465.2 Fake or false reviews | Do not write, buy, sell or spread reviews or testimonials that are fake, including AI-generated ones, or that misstate the reviewer's experience |
| § 465.4 Conditioned incentives | Do not pay or reward people for reviews on the condition that the review is positive, or negative |
| § 465.5 Insider reviews | Officers, managers, employees and their relatives must disclose the connection, and the business must not solicit such reviews without disclosure |
| § 465.6 Company-controlled review sites | Do not present a site you control as an independent source of reviews |
| § 465.7 Review suppression | Covered in the next section |
| § 465.8 Fake social media indicators | Do not sell or buy fake followers, views or similar signals |
Section 465.7: what review suppression means
This is the section that matters for removal work. It has two parts.
Part (a): threats and false accusations
It is a violation for anyone to use:
- an unfounded or groundless legal threat
- a physical threat
- intimidation
- a public false accusation, made knowing it is false or with reckless disregard for the truth
in an attempt to prevent a review from being written, or to cause a review to be removed.
The FTC's questions and answers add detail. Intimidation can include abusive communications, stalking, character assassination and sexual harassment. Legal threats must rest on legitimate grounds.
Part (b): hiding reviews on your own site
A business may not suppress reviews because of their rating or negative sentiment and then present the reviews on its website as most or all of the reviews submitted.
The rule then says what does not count as suppression, as long as the same criteria apply to every review regardless of sentiment:
- the review contains trade secrets or confidential commercial information
- the review contains defamatory, harassing, abusive, obscene, vulgar or sexually explicit content
- the review contains another person's personal information or likeness
- the review is discriminatory
- the review is clearly false or misleading
- the seller reasonably believes the review is fake
- the review is wholly unrelated to the products or services
Part (b) is about reviews a business hosts on its own site, not Trustpilot. Still, the list shows how the FTC thinks: holding back a review is acceptable when the reason would apply to a 5-star review too.
The rule sits next to an older law. The Consumer Review Fairness Act voids contract terms that ban or fine honest reviews. Our guide on whether review removal is legal sorts every common method under both.
How this lines up with Trustpilot's flagging reasons
| FTC's acceptable criteria | Trustpilot flagging reason |
|---|---|
| Defamatory, harassing, abusive or obscene content. Discriminatory content | Harmful or illegal |
| Another person's personal information | Personal information |
| The seller reasonably believes the review is fake | Not based on a genuine experience |
| Wholly unrelated to the products or services | About a different business. Advertising or promotional |
Source for Trustpilot's column: flagging reasons.
Both systems rest on the same idea. A review can come down for what it contains or who wrote it. It cannot come down for being negative.
The NextMed case: suppression on Trustpilot
On July 14, 2025 the FTC announced a case against Southern Health Solutions, Inc., doing business as NextMed, a telehealth company that sold GLP-1 weight-loss programs. The Commission approved the final order on December 3, 2025, with a $150,000 payment.
The FTC said the company "suppressed negative reviews on Trustpilot by selectively challenging critical reviews, offering Amazon gift cards to consumers to remove or change negative reviews, and by conditioning refunds on consumers' agreement to remove negative reviews." It also alleged fake positive reviews on Trustpilot and testimonials from people who were not customers.
Three lessons follow.
Selective challenging is conduct the FTC will name. Flagging reviews because they are critical is different from flagging reviews because they break a rule. The test is whether you would flag a positive review with the same problem.
Payments and refunds tied to removal are out. Trustpilot bans them as incentives, and the FTC listed them in its complaint.
The agency reads Trustpilot. Conduct on a third-party review platform was part of a federal case against a telehealth brand.
The GLP-1 page sets out the alleged conduct next to the compliant alternative.
Which removal methods stay inside the rule
| Method | Status |
|---|---|
| Flagging a review through Trustpilot's tool, under the rule it breaks, with evidence | Permitted by Trustpilot. Not review suppression under § 465.7 |
| Flagging positive and negative reviews that break the same rule | Consistent with the FTC's "applied equally" idea and with Trustpilot's fairness rule |
| Replying in public and fixing the issue | Encouraged by both |
| Sending a lawyer's letter with no real legal basis | Risk under § 465.7(a) |
| Publicly accusing a reviewer of lying, without knowing it | Risk under § 465.7(a) |
| Offering refunds, gift cards or discounts for deleting or changing a review | Banned by Trustpilot. Named in the NextMed complaint |
| Buying or writing positive reviews to push negatives down | Violation of § 465.2 and Trustpilot's rules |
| Flagging every negative review regardless of content | Misuse under Trustpilot's policy. The pattern the FTC called selectively challenging critical reviews |
What to require from a removal vendor
Because the rule reaches firms that work for you, a vendor's conduct is your risk. Put these in writing:
- The vendor flags only through the platform's official tools.
- Every flag names the platform rule and the evidence.
- The vendor never contacts reviewers outside the platform's own request tools.
- The vendor never offers anything of value connected to a review.
- The vendor never writes, buys or arranges reviews.
- The vendor sends no legal threats on your behalf.
- You receive a record of every flag and its outcome.
This is the standard we work to. See how it works and the main Trustpilot review removal page.
This guide describes the rule in general terms. For advice about your own situation, speak with a lawyer.
For help with your own profile, start with our Trustpilot review removal service. Our review removal pricing is per confirmed removal, with nothing up front.
Frequently asked questions
Reporting a review to Trustpilot because it breaks Trustpilot's published rules is legal, and it is what the flagging tool is for. The FTC's rule targets other conduct: fake reviews, incentives tied to sentiment, and suppressing reviews with groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation or knowingly false accusations. Source: 16 CFR Part 465. This guide is general information and not legal advice.
Section 465.7 covers two things. First, using an unfounded or groundless legal threat, a physical threat, intimidation, or a knowingly false public accusation to prevent a review or have it removed. Second, presenting the reviews on your own site as most or all reviews when you are hiding some because of their rating or negative sentiment. Source: 16 CFR Part 465.
The FTC can seek civil penalties against knowing violators. The maximum is $53,088 per violation. That figure was set for 2025 and remains in effect for 2026. Source: FTC civil penalty amounts.
Yes. The FTC's guidance says the rule's prohibitions can apply to businesses and to those who work for them, and it names reputation management companies. Source: FTC questions and answers.
The FTC's guidance says the rule does not stop you from contacting customers about their issues or asking satisfied customers to update a review. Trustpilot's own rules are stricter: its policy treats asking a customer to edit or remove a review after you resolved their issue as incentive misuse. On Trustpilot, fix the issue, reply in public and leave the choice to the customer. Sources: FTC questions and answers and Action We Take.
The FTC's announcement does not name the specific laws behind each charge, so we do not say the rule was the basis. What it describes, fake reviews and suppression of negative Trustpilot reviews, is the same kind of conduct the rule names. The case file is on the FTC's NextMed page. Source: FTC announcement.
Primary sources used on this page
- 16 CFR Part 465: Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials. Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsLast verified
- Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials. Federal Trade CommissionLast verified
- FTC Publishes Inflation-Adjusted Civil Penalty Amounts for 2025. Federal Trade CommissionLast verified
- Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers. Federal Trade CommissionLast verified
- For which reasons can businesses flag service reviews?. Trustpilot Help CenterLast verified
- FTC Takes Action Against Telemedicine Firm NextMed (July 14, 2025). Federal Trade CommissionLast verified
- FTC Approves Final Order against Telehealth Provider NextMed (December 3, 2025). Federal Trade CommissionLast verified
- Action We Take. TrustpilotLast verified
- NextMed: cases and proceedings. Federal Trade CommissionLast verified