The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating five businesses over fake and misleading reviews. One of them is about discounts given in return for 5-star reviews, the kind of thing a trade business might be tempted to try.
The rules apply to every business, not just big ones. So it’s worth knowing where the line is.
What the law bans
Since April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has banned:
- obtaining and posting fake reviews
- paid-for or incentivised reviews that aren’t clearly marked as incentivised
- hiding negative reviews
- star ratings that give an inaccurate picture
The CMA can fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover for breaking consumer law.
What the CMA is looking at
The CMA opened the investigations in March 2026. They cover five businesses in four cases:
- whether negative reviews were left off a car sales website, and the reviews firm it uses, and out of its star rating
- whether a funeral business asked its staff to write positive reviews
- whether a food delivery app’s ratings inflated some star ratings
- whether customers were offered discounts on future orders for 5-star reviews, without this being disclosed
The CMA has said it hasn’t reached any conclusions about whether the law has been broken. It updated the case timetables on 28 September 2026. On 14 October it said it expects to give a further update “in the coming months”.
Why it matters if you’re a trade
None of these cases is a trade business. But the practices are ones trades get offered or tempted into all the time:
- “10% off your next job for a 5-star review.” An incentive tied to a good review is exactly what one of the investigations is about.
- Reviews from staff or family. The CMA says asking staff to write reviews “could” be unlawful.
- Only showing the good ones. Hiding genuine bad reviews, on your own website or anywhere else, is on the banned list.
Google’s own rules already ban most of this on your Business Profile. The law now sits behind them too.
What to do
- Ask every customer the same way, happy or not.
- Don’t offer anything in return for a review, good or bad.
- Don’t ask staff, friends or family to leave you reviews.
- If you show reviews on your website, don’t leave the bad ones out.
- Reply to the bad ones instead. A calm, fair reply does more for the next customer than a hidden review.
For how to ask in a way that stays inside the rules, see our Google reviews guide.
If you’ve been hit by fake reviews yourself, here’s how to report them to Google.
Sources
- CMA: Fake and misleading reviews: 5 businesses under CMA investigation (27 March 2026)
- CMA case page: Pasta Evangelists consumer protection enforcement case (updated 28 September 2026)
- CMA blog: Direct consumer enforcement: 18 months on (14 October 2026)
This post is general information, not legal advice.