The Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) has authorised a ultimate order in opposition to Sitejabber, the supplier of a man-made intelligence (AI)-enabled client evaluation platform, prohibiting the corporate from making or facilitating misrepresentations about scores and opinions.
The FTC charged in a November 2024 grievance that Sitejabber collected client scores and opinions for its on-line enterprise shoppers on the time of buy, earlier than the customers skilled the services or products; used these scores and opinions to inflate its shoppers’ common scores and evaluation counts; and supplied its shoppers with the means to misrepresent that scores and opinions have been from clients who had used their merchandise, the company mentioned in a Friday (Jan. 3) press launch.
When asserting the enforcement motion in a Nov. 6 press launch, Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Shopper Safety, mentioned: “Platforms don’t have free rein to mislead individuals concerning the client opinions proven for firms and their merchandise.”
The Friday press launch asserting the approval of a ultimate order mentioned: “The ultimate order settling the Fee’s grievance prohibits Sitejabber from making, or aiding anybody else in making, misrepresentations about any scores, common scores, or opinions it collects, moderates or shows.”
Sitejabber didn’t instantly reply to PYMNTS’ request for remark.
In a response to the FTC’s allegations posted on its web site on Nov. 7, Sitejabber mentioned that the FTC’s allegations relate to the corporate’s show of point-of-sale opinions previous to updates Sitejabber made in early 2024.
Sitejabber mentioned that point-of-sale opinions seize genuine suggestions about clients’ buying experiences; that the FTC introduced proposed new guidelines and up to date guides in June 2023 that implied that point-of-sale opinions are deceptive; and that Sitejabber started separating and extra clearly labeling point-of-sale opinions in late 2023 when it grew to become conscious of the FTC’s modifications.
“Whereas we disagree with the implied intent and impression of the FTC’s allegations, now we have at all times supported elevated transparency and regulation round opinions,” Sitejabber wrote in its Nov. 7 response. “It was a troublesome determination, however we finally selected to settle, as many of the FTC’s issues had already been addressed by our earlier modifications, and the settlement didn’t contain any additional important alterations to our practices or any civil penalties.”
