Fashion Nova Fined $4.2 Million by the FTC for Suppressing Negative Reviews

What Did Fashion Nova Do?

The FTC charged that from late 2015 until November 2019, Fashion Nova suppressed reviews with ratings lower than four stars out of five, using third–party software to automatically post high-starred scores and send lower-marked reviews for “approval.” In practice, this meant hundreds of thousands of negative reviews were never published—artificially boosting the brand’s product ratings.

The FTC’s order makes clear that, from as early as late 2015 through mid-November 2019, Fashion Nova chose to have four- and five-star reviews automatically post to the website, but did not approve or publish hundreds of thousands of lower-starred, more negative reviews.

Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, commented: “Deceptive review practices cheat consumers, undercut honest businesses, and pollute online commerce…