What does the UK law ban on fake reviews?
Since April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act) treats several review practices as banned practices, meaning they are automatically deemed unfair and illegal. They include obtaining and posting fake reviews, and paid-for reviews that are not clearly marked as incentivised. They also cover how reviews are handled, such as hiding negative reviews or showing star ratings that present an inaccurate picture, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) press release of 27 March 2026.
The Act also gave the CMA the power to decide whether consumer law has been broken without going through the courts. If it finds an infringement, it can require businesses to change their practices and impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover.
What is still allowed?
A business can still ask for reviews and can still reward them. What the law targets is hiding the reward. An incentivised review that is clearly labelled as incentivised is a different thing from a paid review presented as independent.
What has the CMA actually done so far?
The CMA issued detailed guidance in 2025 and swept more than 100 review publishers. It sent advisory letters to 54 firms, and the CMA reports that 90% made changes in response. It had earlier secured changes from Google and Amazon to how they identify and remove fake reviews.
On 27 March 2026 it opened its first formal fake-review investigations under the new powers, which brought the number of businesses under review with those powers to 14. The five companies are Autotrader, Feefo, Dignity, Just Eat and Pasta Evangelists.
| Company | What the CMA is looking at |
|---|---|
| Autotrader and Feefo | Whether 1-star reviews moderated by Feefo were not published on Autotrader and not counted towards star ratings |
| Dignity | Whether staff were asked to write positive reviews of its crematoria services |
| Just Eat | Whether its ratings system inflated certain restaurants' and grocers' star ratings |
| Pasta Evangelists | Whether customers were offered discounts on future orders for 5-star reviews on delivery apps, without disclosure |
Why should you not wait for the outcome?
The CMA says it has not reached any conclusions about whether the law has been broken, and these are allegations, not findings. The Just Eat case page was last updated on 28 September 2026. It lists the investigation as ongoing after an initial evidence-gathering stage from March to September 2026, with the next update due in winter 2026 to 2027.
So the review page in front of you today was not necessarily cleaned up by a ruling. The law sets the rules, and enforcement arrives case by case.
What does the law not fix?
A ban on fake reviews says nothing about whether a ranking or a recommendation is independent. A "best of" list can be built to earn commission, and a roundup can be written to rank on search rather than to help you choose. Those are questions about who pays for the advice, which a review law does not answer.
A star average can also mislead when every review is genuine. A product with hundreds of thoughtful 5-star reviews and a cluster of 1-star reviews about the same fault shows a high average and a real risk. The average hides the shape.
How do you read online reviews critically?
Read the distribution, not the headline number. Then read the middle. The CMA's own tips note that a 3 or 4-star review is unlikely to be fake, because the reviewer who knocks off a star for a late delivery still sounds happy overall, so you can judge whether their gripe matters to you.
- •Look at how many reviews sit at each star level, and whether the 1-star reviews repeat one specific fault.
- •Read the 3 and 4-star reviews first.
- •Check the dates. A burst of 5-star reviews in a few days deserves suspicion.
- •Look for labels that say a review was incentivised or that the reviewer received a discount.
- •Check more than one site. Patterns that appear on several platforms are harder to fake.
- •Be wary of reviews that read as unusually polished or share very similar wording. The CMA warns that AI-generated reviews can now sound fluent and convincing.
Say a kettle shows 4.8 stars. If 70% of its reviews landed in one fortnight and the 3-star reviews all mention a lid that cracks, the number tells you less than those few sentences do.
How do you check any recommendation, including one from an AI assistant?
Ask the same question of every source: who benefits if I follow this advice? A review site, a comparison page and an AI assistant can all be wrong or influenced. Advice with no advertiser behind it is only useful if you can see what it is based on and check that yourself.
So ask for the evidence, not the verdict. Which reviews, from when, from which site? What is the strongest reason not to buy? If a source cannot show you where an answer came from, treat the answer as a lead to check, not a conclusion.
Frequently asked questions
Is it illegal to pay for a review in the UK?
It is unlawful to obtain and post fake reviews, and unlawful to publish paid-for reviews that are not clearly marked as incentivised. A reward given for a review is not banned by itself. The problem is concealing it.
Who enforces the fake reviews rules?
The Competition and Markets Authority. Under the DMCC Act it can decide whether consumer law has been broken without going to court, and can fine up to 10% of global turnover. It can also require businesses to change their practices.
Which companies is the CMA investigating for fake reviews?
In March 2026 it opened cases against Autotrader, Feefo, Dignity, Just Eat and Pasta Evangelists. The CMA has not reached conclusions, and the cases remain allegations until it announces a decision.
Can I trust a high star rating now?
A high rating is a starting point, not proof. Check how the stars are distributed, read the 3 and 4-star reviews, and compare at least one other site before you rely on it.