Fake blogs, bogus feedback and made up comments – the shady end of online guerrilla marketing – is set to be outlawed later this year.
Under new European rules due to come into force on December 31 anyone attempting to hoodwink the internet population will find themselves either taken to court and/or named and shamed by trading standards. The new European directive bans businesses from “falsely representing oneself as a consumer”.
The legislation, part of a wider toughening of European consumer protection law, comes into force at a time when online reviews of products, services and retailers play an increasingly important part in informing consumers’ purchasing decisions, and the take-off of Web 2.0, the era of user generated content.
Targeted by the new rules will be companies and individuals that attempt to boost sales by posting fake consumer comments on web sites or posing as a blogger in order to ramp up their reputation. The type of site that will be affected by the changes are auction sites like eBay, retail sites such as Amazon and TripAdvisor and non-retail sites dedicated to a single subject. Indeed, anywhere the public can leave feedback, comments and reviews, as well as any site or mini-site operated by a company.
Although this legislation sounds perfectly laudable in its intent, it does raise some issues. Say you operate a perfectly legal site that’s upfront about its identity and enables visitors to post comments. If someone from a rival posts a comment under a pseudonym, who is liable? The site owner, the web host, the person who posted the comment, or all three?
Another scenario worth considering is a forum. It may be operated by a genuine member of the public on a topic close to his or her heart, but how, other than by verifying an email address, can they validate the identity of the forum’s membership?
Hopefully between now and December 31 some of the answers to these and other issues surrounding the directive will be teased out and clarified.
