In Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Meriton
Property Services Pty Ltd (No 2) [2018] FCA 1125, Meriton
Property Services Pty Ltd (Meriton) has been
penalised $3 million for manipulating their customer reviews on the
third party review website, TripAdvisor. This penalty follows the
Federal Court's 2017 finding that Meriton had breached sections
18 and 34 of the Australian Consumer Law in Schedule 2 of the
Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)
(ACL), which concern misleading or deceptive
conduct and conduct that is likely to mislead the public as to the
nature of any services.
Meriton was found to have engaged in deceptive practices which
prevented guests from posting potentially negative reviews on
TripAdvisor, thus creating an overall unduly favourable impression
of Meriton accommodation, which primarily supplies serviced
apartments for short-term stays.
