The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave final approval for its first-ever fine related to "review hijacking" on Amazon.
The Bountiful Company, which makes Nature’s Bounty supplements, is now ordered to pay $600,000 for the allegedly deceptive review tactics on Amazon.
- According to the FTC, Bountiful deceived Amazon customers by merging reviews of different products to give them a rating boost.
- Bountiful exploited an Amazon “variation” feature that allows sellers to group similar products on the same page, as long as they only differ in small ways such as quantity or color, according to the agency.
- The FTC says Bountiful went a step further by merging supplements with different formulations and active ingredients.
- It combined listings for popular well-reviewed products with newer but less popular products, giving the latter a boost from the established "best seller" badges and reviews, the agency said.
- Yesterday, the FTC voted unanimously to approve a final consent order for the enforcement action and fine against Nestlé-owned Bountiful, which is now barred from similar tactics in the future.
- Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, described review hijacking as a "relatively new tactic" that's still considered "plain old false advertising."
