What changed in the FTC's fake reviews rule?
On August 14, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission announced a final rule that "will combat fake reviews and testimonials by prohibiting their sale or purchase and allow the agency to seek civil penalties against knowing violators." Before this rule, the FTC could act against a fake-review scheme case by case but had limited power to make violators pay. The press release states the rule "will become effective 60 days after the date it’s published in the Federal Register," without naming that date. It also states the vote to approve it was "5-0."
What does the FTC rule prohibit?
Six named practices. On fake reviews themselves, the rule covers reviews and testimonials that "misrepresent that they are by someone who does not exist, such as AI-generated fake reviews, or who did not have actual experience with the business or its products or services, or that misrepresent the experience of the person giving it." It separately bans "certain reviews and testimonials written by company insiders that fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose the giver’s material connection to the business," a business "misrepresenting that a website or entity it controls provides independent reviews or opinions about a category of products or services that includes its own products or services," and "using unfounded or groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation, or certain false public accusations to prevent or remove a negative consumer review." A sixth clause bans "selling or buying fake indicators of social media influence, such as followers or views generated by a bot or hijacked account," where the buyer knew or should have known the indicators were fake.
Can I offer a discount for a positive review under the FTC rule?
No. The rule "prohibits businesses from providing compensation or other incentives conditioned on the writing of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment, either positive or negative," and the FTC adds that "the conditional nature of the offer of compensation or incentive may be expressly or implicitly conveyed" — so a discount that is never stated as conditional, but that a customer would reasonably read as tied to a good review, falls under the same ban. This is not legal advice; if you need a ruling on a specific offer, ask a lawyer familiar with FTC advertising rules.
Does Google allow discounts for reviews?
No, and Google's wording is stricter than the FTC's on one point. Google's prohibited-content policy states merchants must not "offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services - in exchange for posting any review or revision or removal of a negative review," and its reviews-help page repeats that "offering incentives, like free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for customers to post reviews, change reviews, or remove negative reviews is considered fake & misleading content and is strictly prohibited." The same policy page also bars merchants from doing something the FTC rule does not name directly: it says businesses must not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers."
What's the practical difference between the FTC wording and Google's wording?
The FTC's ban is conditioned on sentiment; Google's ban covers any review, regardless of sentiment. Read literally, the FTC rule prohibits an incentive tied to writing a review "expressing a particular sentiment, either positive or negative" — an incentive offered for leaving a review of any sentiment, with no sentiment named or implied, sits outside that specific wording. Google's rule does not carry that limitation: it prohibits an incentive "in exchange for posting any review," full stop, with no exception for offers that are neutral on sentiment. A discount offered to everyone who reviews, regardless of what they say, could arguably clear the FTC's sentiment-conditioned test while still breaking Google's rule. This is not legal advice; treat the FTC comparison as a reading of the published text, not a determination of how a specific offer would be enforced.
How to ask for reviews that fit both
Our advice, built from the rules above: ask every customer the same way, at the same point in the process, with no incentive attached and no filtering by how the visit went. Google's own suggested method is to "ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code" — a single link sent to the full customer list clears both the FTC's sentiment-conditioning test and Google's ban on incentives and selective solicitation, because nothing is offered and nobody is screened out before being asked.
Where this fits with CitedGEO
Our free GEO audit runs 10 buyer questions through Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, three times each, and the 60 answers show which review and directory sites get cited for your category.