Quick answer: In 2026, buying fake or undisclosed reviews is illegal in the US under the FTC's 16 CFR Part 465 rule, in the UK under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, and across the EU under the Omnibus Directive. Trustpilot's own guidelines also prohibit incentivized and purchased reviews. Fines reach $53,088 per violation in the US and up to 10% of global turnover in the UK.
Short answer, then the nuance
Buying reviews that are fake, incentivized without disclosure, or written by people who never used the product is illegal in every major market Trustpilot serves. What is legal is asking real customers for honest reviews, using compliant invitation software, and paying for review management services that do not generate or trade reviews.
The confusion usually comes from the difference between paying for reviews and paying for a review program. The first is a consumer-protection offense. The second is normal marketing spend.
United States: FTC 16 CFR Part 465
The Federal Trade Commission's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials took effect on October 21, 2024 as 16 CFR Part 465. It prohibits fake or false consumer reviews, reviews written by people without real experience of the product, undisclosed insider reviews, buying positive or negative reviews, review suppression, and misuse of fake indicators of social influence. Penalties can reach $53,088 per violation under the current civil-penalty adjustment.
The rule is intentionally broad. It applies to the business that buys reviews, to intermediaries that broker them, and to individuals who knowingly write them. Trustpilot reviews are covered because the rule targets any consumer review that a reasonable person would rely on when making a purchase decision.
United Kingdom: DMCC Act 2024
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force in stages during 2025. It added fake reviews to the list of banned commercial practices and gave the Competition and Markets Authority direct enforcement power without needing to go through the courts first. Fines can reach 10% of a business's global annual turnover for the most serious breaches.
The DMCC Act covers commissioning fake reviews, publishing them, and offering services to write, commission, or facilitate them. It also treats hiding negative reviews and cherry-picking positive ones as unfair commercial practices. UK Trustpilot users are covered whether the reviewer is domestic or overseas, as long as the reviews target UK consumers.
European Union: Omnibus Directive
Directive (EU) 2019/2161, known as the Omnibus Directive, has been in force across EU member states since May 2022. It requires traders to take reasonable and proportionate steps to verify that reviews come from consumers who have actually used the product, and it bans submitting fake reviews or paying others to submit them. Member states set their own maximum fines, but for widespread cross-border infringements the ceiling is at least 4% of the trader's annual turnover in the member states concerned.
In practice this means an EU-facing Trustpilot profile is expected to describe how reviews are verified, disclose any incentives, and avoid staged or curated review flows. National regulators such as France's DGCCRF and Italy's AGCM have already fined companies for undisclosed incentives and fake reviews under transposed Omnibus rules.
What Trustpilot's own rules say
Independent of the law, Trustpilot's User Guidelines and Business Guidelines prohibit purchased reviews, reviews written in exchange for undisclosed incentives, reviews written by employees or their family members, and coordinated review activity. Trustpilot reserves the right to remove reviews, flag profiles with a consumer warning, and terminate accounts for violations.
A consumer-warning banner on a Trustpilot profile is a public reputational hit that outlasts most legal penalties. Even if a regulator never investigates, a visible warning can suppress conversion for months.
What actually counts as a bought review
Regulators and Trustpilot look at the same signals: was the reviewer a real customer, was the review written or dictated by the business, was there an undisclosed benefit tied to the review, and was the invitation process selective. Any single one of these can trigger enforcement, but combinations are what usually produce fines.
- Paying a marketplace, freelancer, or agency to post reviews under fake or borrowed identities.
- Offering a discount, entry to a prize draw, gift card, or free product in exchange for a review without clear and prominent disclosure.
- Writing reviews internally or asking employees, contractors, or family members to write them.
- Sending invitations only to customers likely to be positive (selective invitation).
- Reposting positive reviews from elsewhere or fabricating quotes.
What is legal and normal
Automated invitations sent to all recent verified customers are legal and encouraged. Paying for Trustpilot's own paid tier is legal. Paying an agency to run compliant invitation flows, respond to reviews, or improve on-site TrustBox placement is legal. Paying for advice on review recovery, defamation removal, or migration between review platforms is legal.
The line is simple: you can pay to collect real reviews at scale, you cannot pay for the review content itself.
Enforcement patterns to date
The FTC's first enforcement actions under 16 CFR Part 465 in 2025 targeted intermediaries selling review services and individual businesses buying them. In the UK, the CMA has been publishing enforcement summaries against review farms since 2023, and the DMCC Act expanded that reach in 2025. In the EU, national consumer authorities in France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands have all issued fines against companies for undisclosed incentives, staged reviews, or failure to verify authenticity.
Cross-border cases are increasingly common. A Trustpilot profile serving UK, French, and US customers can be exposed to all three regimes simultaneously, and enforcement is coordinated through networks like the ICPEN.
Original insight: the real risk is not the fine
In our work reviewing Trustpilot profiles affected by fake-review activity, the direct regulatory fine is rarely the biggest cost. The typical damage stack is a consumer-warning banner on the profile, a wave of user-reported reviews from confused real customers, an internal audit forced on the marketing team, and a temporary drop in paid-media performance because ad platforms downweight domains under active regulatory action. Together these usually cost several times more than the fine itself, and they last longer.
A compliant Trustpilot program in five steps
- Send automated invitations to 100% of recent verified customers, not a curated subset.
- Never offer a payment, discount, entry, or gift in return for a review. Thank-you gifts unrelated to the review are fine but should not be conditional.
- Disclose any relationship or incentive clearly and prominently if one exists in edge cases like product testing programs.
- Do not write, edit, or ghostwrite reviews under any identity, including staff, family, or agency accounts.
- Document your invitation logic, exclusions, and consent flow so you can prove compliance to Trustpilot or a regulator on request.
If you have already bought reviews
Do not try to delete them yourself if they are still live. Trustpilot's own moderation system, and any regulator that inspects the account, treats a sudden mass deletion as further evidence of misconduct. The safer path is to stop all further purchased activity immediately, preserve records, take specialist advice on removal and disclosure, and rebuild review velocity through compliant invitations. Our team handles this through our <a href="/trustpilot-review-removal">Trustpilot review removal</a> and <a href="/buy-trustpilot-reviews">compliant Trustpilot review growth</a> services, and we always start with a live audit rather than a bulk delete.
What to do this week
Audit your last 90 days of Trustpilot reviews. Check the invitation source, whether any incentive was offered, and whether any reviews came through non-verified channels. If anything looks like it might sit inside the FTC, DMCC, or Omnibus definitions, stop that source now and document the change. Compliance is easier to prove when it starts with a dated internal note, not a regulator's letter.
Frequently asked
Q.Is it illegal to buy Trustpilot reviews in 2026?
Yes, in every major market Trustpilot serves. The US, UK, and EU each ban fake or undisclosed reviews under FTC 16 CFR 465, the DMCC Act 2024, and the Omnibus Directive respectively. Trustpilot's own guidelines also prohibit purchased reviews independent of the law.
Q.Can I get a discount for asking customers to leave a Trustpilot review?
Only if the discount is not conditional on the review being positive, and the incentive is clearly and prominently disclosed. Undisclosed incentives are treated as unfair commercial practices in the US, UK, and EU.
Q.What is the fine for fake reviews in the US and UK?
In the US, the FTC can seek civil penalties up to $53,088 per violation under 16 CFR Part 465. In the UK, the CMA can impose fines up to 10% of a business's global annual turnover for serious DMCC Act breaches, without going to court first.
Q.Does Trustpilot punish businesses for buying reviews?
Yes. Trustpilot can remove offending reviews, apply a public consumer-warning banner on the profile, restrict features, and terminate the account. The reputational damage from a warning banner usually outlasts any regulatory fine.
Q.Is it legal to pay an agency to manage Trustpilot reviews?
Yes, provided the agency runs compliant invitation flows to real customers and does not generate or trade reviews. Paying for compliant review management, response handling, and defamation removal is normal marketing spend.
Q.Are employee or family reviews illegal?
They are prohibited by Trustpilot and treated as fake or misleading under US, UK, and EU rules because the reviewer has an undisclosed relationship with the business. Even a single positive employee review can trigger a consumer-warning banner.
