The Federal Trade Commission has finalized an order settling allegations that online fashion retailer Fashion Nova, LLC blocked negative reviews of its products from being posted to its website. Under the final order, Fashion Nova will pay $4.2 million and is prohibited from suppressing customer reviews of its products.
In a complaint first announced in January 2022, the FTC allegedFashion Nova misrepresented that the product reviews on its website reflected the views of all purchasers who submitted reviews, when in fact it suppressed reviews with ratings lower than four stars out of five.
In addition to the $4.2 million for harm consumers incurred, Fashion Nova is prohibited from making misrepresentations about any customer reviews or other endorsem*nts. It also must post on its website all customer reviews of products currently being sold—with the exception of reviews that contain obscene, sexually explicit, racist, or unlawful content and reviews that are unrelated to the product or customer services like shipping or returns.
After receiving one comment, the Commission voted 4-0 to approve the complaint and settlement order and send a responseto the commenter.
