This just dropped into my inbox:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/04/fake-reviews-drip-pricing-cma-rules/
"The new rules, which are effective UK-wide, now mean:
It is illegal for online platforms to host or pay someone to write
a fake review. This means firms cannot commission someone to write or
submit a fake review, advertise for individuals to submit and commission
fake reviews, host consumer reviews that conceal they have been
incentivised or without taking "reasonable steps" to check they are
genuine."
It's all nice and well, but is it realistic and enforceable?
About 10 years ago, I was unemployed and super broke and was denied JSA
(which I then appealed and won), so I had to temporarily turn to these so-called "microworking" sites. They were all the rage a few years ago.
It was slavery, but you could easily make 10 cents USD for each job, and
a job would take 1-2 minutes. Most of these jobs were about cheating
Google Adsense, publishing a fake review (1 to 2 USD) or posting a
promotional video (5 to 10 USD).
These sites are usually domiciled in Belorussia, Russia, Dubai, etc. and
they pay in PayPal coupons or cryptocurrencies.
How can such a ban be enforced in practice? The poor people who post
these reviews are in the 3rd world, earn peanuts and they are almost
impossible to trace.
Is this measure just theatre?
--
Ottavio Caruso
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