Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help ensure that companies that provide customer review services ensure the authenticity of such reviews.

The government introduced in Parliament the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Bill on 25 April. The DMCC Bill includes a delegated power to amend the list of automatically unfair practices in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

The government will consult during bill passage on using this power to ensure that reviews are genuine, with a view to adding practices related to fake and misleading reviews to the list of automatically unfair practices. This will give greater clarity to companies who provide review services on their responsibilities in relation to consumer reviews and will allow enforcers to take effective action quickly.