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Faarea MasudBusiness reporter
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Food delivery giant Just Eat and motoring site Autotrader are among five firms being investigated as part of a probe into fake and misleading online reviews by the UK's competition watchdog.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is also examining funeral firm Dignity, reviews site Feefo and fresh pasta chain Pasta Evangelists, is looking at whether they have broken consumer law.
The probe will focus on how reviews are obtained, moderated and presented to customers.
All five firms told the BBC they were co-operating with the CMA's investigation.
Online reviews influence billions of pounds of spending each year, yet many consumers worry about misleading content online.
"Fake reviews strike at the heart of consumer trust," said the CMA's chief executive, Sarah Cardell.
"With household budgets under pressure, people need to know they're getting genuine information – not reviews or star-ratings that have been manipulated to push them towards the wrong choice."
- Feefo and Autotrader are under investigation over whether they denied consumers a "fully rounded" picture online of other people's experiences by not including some bad reviews.
- Just Eat is being probed over whether its system inflated certain restaurants' and grocers' star ratings. The firm said it was now working with the CMA to ensure its reviews were clear, transparent and easy to use.
- Dignity is being investigated over whether it asked staff to write positive reviews about the firm's cremation services, giving people "a potentially inaccurate picture" of customers' feedback.
- Pasta Evangelists is being looked at to see whether customers were offered discounts on future orders in exchange for leaving 5-star reviews on delivery apps without this being disclosed.
While the CMA is investigating the five businesses, it said it had "not reached any conclusions about whether consumer law has been broken".
Since April last year, the CMA has new powers to fine firms for violating consumer law without needing to go through the courts.
Recent data from research firm TruthEngine suggested that around 50% of reviews online are fake.
Internet shoppers are not the only ones who face problems with fake reviews. In 2024, a small chain of independent restaurants in the UK was blackmailed by criminals who threatened to flood its online listings with fake one-star reviews unless they were paid thousands of pounds.
Sue Davies, Which?'s head of consumer rights policy, said: "Investigations are a welcome first step, but enforcement will be key: the regulator must be prepared to get tough, use its powers and issue serious fines if these companies aren't playing by the rules".
Before the new fining powers came into force, the CMA had faced criticism for not being strict enough with big tech firms.
"Amazon and Google have both been accused of similar practices, but they agreed some commitments rather than having a formal decision against them," said Tom Smith, former director of mergers at the CMA.
In January 2025, Google and Amazon agreed to make significant changes to their processes to help tackle fake reviews.
How to avoid fake reviews
The CMA has issued advice on how consumers can avoid fake reviews. It says:
- Read the full review rather than simply looking at the star-rating.
- Be careful of AI-generated reviews. If a review "feels a bit too slick, reads like it's been perfectly crafted" it may not be real. "Trust your instincts," the watchdog says.
- It is "unlikely" that a three or four-star rating is fake. "Someone might knock off a star because delivery was a day late or the packaging wasn't perfect, but still be very happy overall," the CMA wrote. "If their minor gripe doesn't matter to you, you can be more confident the rest of their review is genuine."
- Check multiple sites rather than sticking with only one.
