The Federal Trade Commission announced an enforcement action
against The Bountiful Company for a practice the FTC dubbed
"review hijacking" on Feb. 16.
Bountiful, a vitamin and supplement company, falsely represented
that certain products received ratings and reviews that, in
reality, belonged to other products sold by Bountiful.
Bountiful is set to pay $600,000 under the agency's proposed
consent order.
Background
This case marks the first action the FTC has taken against a
company for review hijacking, one of several practices that the FTC
had foreshadowed it would take aim at when it released an advanced
notice of proposed rulemaking back in October 2022.
In that release, it announced that it was considering a new rule
to help protect consumers against deceptive and unfair review or
endorsement practices, such as fake reviews, suppression of
negative reviews, or positive reviews that were bought and paid
for.
