Last Updated April 29, 2025
PowerReviews has always placed significant emphasis on ensuring reviews published using our technology are authentic and presented in a way that accurately demonstrates their value to a potential online purchase decision. This article explains these processes in detail, while referencing any relevant regulation.
PowerReviews requires that all of our clients comply with our PowerReviews Authenticity Policy and PowerReviews Moderation Policy. PowerReviews’ technology supports our clients in monitoring for fake or fraudulent reviews and publishing reviews in a way that is transparent and not misleading.
US Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Regulations
The United States FTC has addressed online product reviews in regulations such as the Consumer Review Fairness Act and 16 CFR Part 465.
These regulations outline many prohibited business behaviors, including:
- Fake or False Consumer Reviews, Consumer Testimonials, and Celebrity Testimonials
- Buying Positive or Negative Reviews
- Insider Reviews and Consumer Testimonials
- Company-Controlled Review Websites
- Review Suppression
- Misuse of Fake Social Media Indicators
Compliance
PowerReviews requires that all clients adhere to our PowerReviews Authenticity Policy, which prohibits the behaviors outlined by the FTC.
Tools to Support Compliance
The PowerReviews technology and services include several tools and safeguards to assist our clients with maintaining compliance.
Fraud Detection
To monitor for and mitigate fraudulent and fake reviews, the PowerReviews technology supports IP address monitoring, user-device reputation assessment, and duplicate review identification.
IP Address Monitoring
We recommend – as part of our best practice implementation – that any client who uses our services, allow PowerReviews to view any user’s IP address who submits a review. When a client sends a user’s IP address as part of the review, PowerReviews will be able to monitor IP address activity to flag and/or block any IPs that have any history of providing fraudulent or illegitimate reviews or other user-generated content across any company using our platform.
Mass advertising, trolling, and attempts at automated content submission are all sources of inauthentic content. PowerReviews also offers tools that help flag and block reviews deemed inauthentic by leveraging a JavaScript-based device reputation technology.
Duplication Review Check
PowerReviews has a best-in-class moderation process to verify the relevancy, appropriateness, and authenticity of each review for our clients. As a part of this verification process, duplicate reviews are also identified and unpublished from consumer view. For more information on the PowerReviews moderation process see our Moderation Guidelines.
Tracking Review Source
In addition to monitoring reviews for fraudulent behavior, PowerReviews also provides our clients with the tools to track the source of any specific review, without identifying the specific consumer. These tracking methods ensure that our clients can present reviews in a transparent manner to their customers.
With proper configuration, PowerReviews clients are able to accurately identify reviews that have been submitted by:
- a consumer that has purchased the product
- a consumer that has verified their email address
- a staff member of the client’s organization
- a consumer that was incentivized to write the review (e.g. giveaway or contest)
- a consumer that wrote a review after receiving a free product sample
Providing Consumer Transparency within the Review Display
To ensure that reviews are not presented in a misleading way, PowerReviews provides badges and disclosures statements alongside each review displayed using our review display technology.
Review Badging
PowerReviews employs the following badges on reviews displayed on our clients’ websites based on the source of that review.
Verified Buyer
A Verified Buyer (example of this badge below) is an individual who has purchased the reviewed product directly from the company displaying the review. The review was submitted through a specific process that tracks purchase history. This designation is intended to clearly identify consumers who are submitting reviews of products that they own.
Verified Reviews
A Verified Reviewer (example of this badge below) is an individual who has confirmed their email address through our verification process. This designation is intended to clearly identify consumers who are submitting reviews using a valid email address.
Staff Reviewer
A Staff Reviewer (example of this badge below) is an individual for whom PowerReviews has matched their email address domain to the domain of the B2C business selling the product. This badge is used to make sure that consumers know if/when the person posting a review has a potential affiliation to the B2C business selling the product/service.
Review Disclosures
Our technology also tags reviews with specific disclosure statements in the following scenarios:
Sampled Product Review
A review that was written by a consumer after receiving a free product sample will display the disclosure in the example below:
Incentivized Reviews
A review that was written by a consumer who was incentivized to write a review. Examples of such incentives include an entry into a contest or sweepstakes, see the examples below:
