FTC finalises order claiming Fashion Nova blocked negative online reviews

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled allegations against online fashion retailer Fashion Nova, who it had found to be blocking negative product reviews by customers on its website.

For the final order, the fast fashion brand will be required to pay 4.2 million dollars and is prohibited from suppressing future customer reviews of its products.

The complaint first came to light in January 2022, after the FTC claimed Fashion Nova was misrepresenting that the product reviews on its website were reflecting the opinions of all purchasers who had submitted reviews.

However, investigations by the firm found the retailer was suppressing reviews with ratings lower than four stars out of five.

Prohibited from additional misrepresentations

From this point onwards, Fashion Nova will be prohibited from making any further misrepresentations about customer reviews and is required to post all reviews for products currently being sold, with the exception of unrelated, unlawful or explicit content.

The commission stated in a release that it had voted four to nil to approve the complaint and settle the order.