Smaller-scale sweeps will focus on deceptive practices in the digital marketplace, targeting misleading reviews, and on influencers on social media who fail to clearly disclose advertising or sponsorship on posts.
The ACCC will focus on areas in which consumers most commonly rely on reviews, including household appliances, electronics, fashion, beauty products, food and restaurants, travel services, sport, home improvement, kitchenware, health products, as well as furniture and bedding.
“Unfortunately, consumers are facing an ever-increasing range of manipulative marketing techniques designed to exploit or pressure them, due in part to the huge number of online information sources available. Consumers often rely on reviews and testimonials when making purchases, but misleading reviews can be harmful,” Rickard said.
“We are looking to identify businesses, review platforms or sectors where there is a pattern of misleading online reviews and testimonials that have the potential to cause significant consumer or small business harm. Both positive and negative reviews and testimonials – including those that are incentivised – can be false or misleading, particularly if they are presented as impartial but are not.”
The findings of these internet sweeps will be collated, analysed, and the published by the ACCC.
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