Fake Reviews Law UK: What the DMCC Act 2024 Bans

Short answer

Yes, fake reviews are illegal in the UK. Since 6 April 2025, Schedule 20 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans writing or commissioning fake reviews, hiding that a review was incentivised, publishing reviews in a misleading way, and selling any of that as a service. The CMA can fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover.

General information, not legal advice

This guide explains the law as it stands and where to read it for yourself. We are not a law firm. If you are thinking about legal action, speak to a solicitor.

Are fake reviews illegal in the UK?

Yes. Section 225 of the DMCC Act 2024 says: "Unfair commercial practices are prohibited." A practice is automatically unfair if it appears in Schedule 20, the list of "commercial practices which are in all circumstances considered unfair", and paragraph 13 of that schedule covers consumer reviews. It has applied since 6 April 2025.

"In all circumstances" matters. Nobody has to prove that a shopper was actually misled. The CMA's guidance calls paragraph 13 "behaviour that is automatically unfair and illegal."

The ban works in both directions. The CMA says fake reviews "could be positive or negative", and that fake negative reviews "are often written with the intention of undermining a product or trader in the eyes of consumers." A rival posting one-star reviews about you is caught just as much as a business buying five-star ones.

What the DMCC Act bans: Schedule 20, paragraph 13

The core wording is short. Paragraph 13 lists four banned practices:

(1) Submitting, or commissioning another person to submit or write: (a) a fake consumer review, or (b) a consumer review that conceals the fact it has been incentivised.

(2) Publishing consumer reviews, or consumer review information, in a misleading way.

(3) Publishing consumer reviews, or consumer review information, without taking such reasonable and proportionate steps as are necessary for the purposes of: (a) preventing the publication of (i) fake consumer reviews, (ii) consumer reviews that conceal the fact they have been incentivised, or (iii) consumer review information that is false or misleading, and (b) removing any such reviews or information from publication.

(4) Offering services to traders: (a) for the doing of anything covered by sub-paragraph (1) or (2); (b) for the facilitating of anything covered by sub-paragraph (1) or (2) to be done.

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20, paragraph 13 (dashes in the original shown as colons)

Two definitions in paragraph 13(5) do most of the work. A "fake consumer review" is "a consumer review that purports to be, but is not, based on a person's genuine experience", and "commissioning" "includes incentivising by any means".

The CMA is also clear about what is not fake: "A review is not fake just because the trader who it is about does not like or agree with it, as long as it reflects the reviewer's genuine experience."

Banned practice	Who it catches	Example from the CMA's guidance
Submitting or commissioning a fake review	Businesses, their staff, marketing firms and anyone posting for them	"Stating in a review that a product or trader met expectations, when in fact it did not, or the reviewer had not used the product or trader."
Concealed incentivised review	Reviewers and the businesses that reward them	A positive review that only says the product was free if readers click a link labelled "learn more".
Publishing reviews in a misleading way	Anyone who displays reviews, on their own site or a platform	Hiding negative reviews, or giving positive ones more prominence.
Not preventing and removing fake reviews	Review publishers, from your own website to Google	A review section with no clear policy banning fake reviews.
Offering services to do or facilitate any of the above	Review sellers and agencies	"Offering a search engine optimisation service that promises to improve a trader's rating, when one of the means that will be used is generating fake reviews."

Review gating, hidden negatives and incentives

Paragraph 13(5)(i) gives examples of publishing reviews in a misleading way:

(i) failing to publish, or removing from publication, negative consumer reviews whilst publishing positive ones (or vice versa); (ii) giving greater prominence to positive consumer reviews over negative ones (or vice versa); (iii) omitting information that is relevant to the circumstances in which a consumer review has been written (including that a person has been commissioned to write the review).

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20, paragraph 13(5)(i)

The CMA's guidance adds review gating. It says cherry picking can be done "by encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews". A system that sends happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private feedback form is exactly that. The guidance also says businesses must not deter negative reviews "through threats of harm or legal action" or by "making an offer of dispute resolution contingent on a consumer not leaving a negative review".

This is about hiding genuine reviews. Reporting a review that breaks Google's policies is not suppression: the CMA itself says "it is important to suppress fake negative reviews".

Incentives: allowed by the Act if disclosed, banned by Google

The Act does not ban every incentivised review. The CMA says traders can reward customers for a review, but only if they "tell consumers that the review has been incentivised" and "the review must still reflect the reviewer's genuine experience." A prize draw open to everyone who reviews is, in the CMA's view, "unlikely to amount to commissioning".

Google is stricter. It says offering incentives "in exchange for customers to post reviews, change reviews or remove negative reviews is considered fake engagement and is strictly prohibited." On Google, a disclosed discount for a review still breaks the rules.

The same applies in reverse. The CMA gives "offering them a refund and/or a gift card if they change their review to remove the negative commentary" as an example of commissioning a fake review. Paying someone to delete a bad review is not a way round the law.

Fake reviews posted about your business?

We check each one against Google's policies for free and tell you which can come down.

How the CMA enforces fake reviews law in the UK

The Competition and Markets Authority published its fake reviews guidance, CMA208, on 4 April 2025. It then allowed a three-month adjustment period, during which it would "support businesses with their compliance efforts" and "not yet prioritise enforcement action". That period is over.

Date	What happened
24 January 2025	The CMA announced commitments from Google on fake reviews (see the next section).
4 April 2025	CMA208 fake reviews guidance published.
6 April 2025	The DMCC Act consumer protection rules, including the fake reviews ban, came into force.
25 July 2025	The CMA reported a website review of more than 100 businesses and found 54 "could be failing to comply". It wrote to all 54.
27 March 2026	The CMA opened investigations into five businesses (Autotrader, Dignity, Feefo, Just Eat and Pasta Evangelists) over reviews and star ratings. It said it "has not reached any conclusions about whether consumer law has been broken."

Since April 2025 the CMA can "decide whether consumer protection laws have been infringed (rather than litigating through the courts)". If it finds an infringement, it "can require businesses to change their practices and impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover."

Is posting a fake review a criminal offence?

Not under the DMCC Act. Section 237(7) makes it an offence for a trader to engage in a practice listed in Schedule 20, but section 237(8) excludes the practices in paragraph 13. The fake reviews ban is enforced through the CMA's civil powers and fines. Other criminal law can still apply around a fake review campaign: demanding money to remove reviews is blackmail under section 21 of the Theft Act 1968.

What Google agreed with the CMA

On 24 January 2025 the CMA announced commitments from Google covering UK businesses:

Detection and removalGoogle committed to "rigorous steps to detect and remove fake reviews".
Bans for rogue reviewersPeople who "repeatedly post fake or misleading reviews for UK businesses" have their reviews deleted and are banned from posting new ones, whether the fake reviews were positive or negative.
Warnings on businesses that cheatUK businesses "found to be boosting their star ratings via fake reviews will have prominent 'warning' alerts added to their Google profiles", and the review function on those profiles is switched off.
Easier reportingA reporting function "that allows consumers to easily and quickly report concerning reviews".

If your business is the target of fake negative reviews

The law is on your side, but the CMA does not moderate Google Maps. Your practical route is Google's own policies, which cover the same ground:

Match each review to a Google policy. Someone who was never a customer is fake engagement. A rival or a former employee is a conflict of interest.
Collect evidence. No matching booking, order or payment, the reviewer's other reviews, and the dates of any sudden wave.
Report through Google's Reviews Management Tool. Name the policy and give the evidence. If Google finds no policy violation, you get one appeal.
If a demand for money follows, treat it as extortion. Use Google's merchant extortion report form and do not pay. Report it to the police on 101, or to Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.

Never answer fake negative reviews with fake positive ones: that breaks the same law. Our pages on removing fake Google reviews and Google review extortion cover the evidence in detail, and the review removal checker shows which policy a review is most likely to break.

If you are tempted to buy positive reviews

Every link in the chain is caught. The buyer is commissioning under paragraph 13(1), the seller is offering services under paragraph 13(4), and Google can delete the reviews and put a warning on your profile.

Buying reviews or review packagesBanned by paragraph 13(1) and by Google's fake engagement policy.
Asking staff, friends or family to review youThe CMA's guidance says commissioning "could include a trader requesting a member of staff to write a review". Google's conflict of interest policy covers "current or former employment" and "other professional or personal affiliations".
Discounts or free items for a Google reviewProhibited by Google even when disclosed.
Only inviting happy customersThe CMA treats "encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews" as cherry picking.
Paying a reviewer to delete a negative reviewCommissioning a fake review in the CMA's guidance, and a banned incentive under Google's rules.

What is allowed: asking every customer for a review, with a link or QR code, and replying well to the ones you get. Our guide to responding to negative Google reviews has templates for the difficult ones.

Can you sue for fake reviews in the UK?

The fake reviews ban is enforced by the CMA. If you want to act against the person behind a false review yourself, the usual route is defamation, a separate area of law with its own tests. In England and Wales that is the Defamation Act 2013.

Rule	What it means for a business
Serious harm (section 1)	For a body trading for profit, harm is not serious unless it has caused or is likely to cause serious financial loss.
Defences (sections 2 to 5)	Truth, honest opinion, public interest, and a defence for website operators. A false statement of fact is far more likely to be actionable than a harsh opinion.
Who you can sue (section 10)	A court will not hear a claim against someone who is not the author, editor or publisher unless it is not reasonably practicable to sue the author.
Time limit	One year from publication (Limitation Act 1980, section 4A), which the court can extend.
Anonymous reviewers	A Norwich Pharmacal order can require Google to disclose who is behind an account. It is costly, and the applicant usually pays Google's costs.
Scotland and Northern Ireland	The Defamation and Malicious Publication (Scotland) Act 2021 has a serious harm test and the same one-year limit. Northern Ireland has the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022.

Before any claim, Google has a legal removal form for unlawful content. Our pages on defamatory Google reviews and finding out who left a Google review explain when each step is worth the cost. Or we can get negative Google reviews removed through Google's own process, for a fixed fee you only pay if the review comes down.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to ask customers for Google reviews?

No. The CMA's guidance says that "merely emailing customers generally to ask if they wish to provide a review" is not prohibited, and Google suggests sharing a review link or QR code. The problems start when you ask only happy customers, attach a reward, or tell people what to write.

Does the fake reviews law cover reviews on Google, or only on my own website?

Both. Submitting or commissioning a fake review is banned wherever the review appears. The duty to prevent and remove fake reviews falls on whoever publishes them, and the CMA's guidance names search engines, online marketplaces and social media among the publishers it covers.

Is a review from a friend or an employee a fake review?

Under the Act, a review is fake if it is not based on the person's genuine experience. A friend who really did use you may not be writing a fake review, but the CMA says hiding that a reviewer is an employee or has a financial interest may be misleading. Google's conflict of interest policy bans reviews from employees and personal affiliations either way.

What is CMA208?

CMA208 is the Competition and Markets Authority's 29-page fake reviews guidance, published on 4 April 2025, with worked examples of what paragraph 13 allows and bans.

Can I report a competitor who buys fake reviews to the CMA?

Yes. The CMA says businesses concerned about a company's behaviour can report it online through its "Report a problem to the CMA" page. It also says it "cannot step in or advise on individual complaints", so report the reviews themselves to Google as well.

Fake reviews law in the UK: what is banned and what it means for you