Fashion Nova, a popular online fast-fashion retailer, has agreed to a $4.2 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for suppressing negative customer reviews. The FTC’s complaint alleges that Fashion Nova misrepresented the customer feedback on its website by selectively publishing only positive reviews. This deceptive practice artificially inflated product ratings and deprived consumers of valuable information necessary for informed purchasing decisions.
The FTC investigation revealed that Fashion Nova utilized a third-party review management interface to automatically post four and five-star reviews while withholding hundreds of thousands of lower-rated reviews from publication. This practice spanned from late 2015 to November 2019, effectively silencing dissenting customer opinions. The FTC asserts that suppressing negative reviews creates a misleading impression of product quality and undermines fair competition.
This landmark case marks the FTC’s first action against a company for concealing negative customer reviews. The FTC Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Samuel Levine, stated that “Deceptive review practices cheat consumers, undercut honest businesses, and pollute online commerce.” Fashion Nova’s settlement serves as a warning to other businesses engaging in similar practices.
Beyond the financial penalty, Fashion Nova is now required to publish all customer reviews for currently sold products, excluding those containing obscene, sexually explicit, racist, or unlawful content, or those unrelated to the product or customer service experience. This mandatory transparency aims to restore consumer trust and ensure accurate product representation.
This is not Fashion Nova’s first encounter with the FTC. In 2020, the company settled for $9.3 million for failing to notify customers about shipping delays and improperly using gift cards as compensation instead of refunds. This pattern of consumer-related violations further underscores the importance of the FTC’s recent action regarding review manipulation.
In addition to the Fashion Nova case, the FTC sent warning letters to ten review management service providers, emphasizing that suppressing negative reviews violates the FTC Act. The agency also released updated guidance for online retailers and review platforms, outlining best practices for collecting and publishing customer reviews ethically and transparently. These actions demonstrate the FTC’s commitment to combating deceptive practices and protecting consumers in the online marketplace. The FTC’s proactive approach aims to create a level playing field for businesses and empower consumers with accurate information.
