A 2023 rewrite of the FTC's endorsement rules names fake reviews

The revenue mechanism

On 26 July 2023 the Federal Trade Commission published a final rule revising 16 CFR Part 255, the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, effective the same day. The rule states the Commission adopted changes beyond its July 2022 proposal after reviewing public comments. The Guides describe the FTC's enforcement view of a deceptive endorsement under the FTC Act, not a standalone binding statute. For a publisher running sponsored content, reviews or affiliate links, the mechanism that produces revenue, a brand paying for a recommendation or a reader clicking a commission-earning link, is exactly the financial relationship the Guides say must be disclosed, and the 2023 revision widens what counts as an endorsement in the first place.

What the documents show

The rule broadens the definition of an endorsement so that tags, likes and similar social signals can be endorsements, a deliberately illustrative rather than exhaustive change. It widens the definition of an endorser to include what can appear to be an individual, group, or institution, addressing fabricated or virtual endorsers. A new Section 255.2(d) addresses advertisers who procure, suppress, boost, organize or edit reviews in ways that distort what customers think; the Commission's response to comments clarifies this covers publishing, upvoting, downvoting and reporting reviews, not only writing fake ones. The rule also formally defines a clear and conspicuous disclosure. The FTC's own Endorsement Guides FAQ adds that disclosure clarity is judged by placement, readability and wording on the specific platform used.

The assumptions exposed

The Guides describe an enforcement position, not a court-tested statute, and a specific case still turns on its own facts; a publisher can over-read a provision as a guaranteed safe harbor when the FTC in practice evaluates disclosures contextually. The review-manipulation language targets mainly advertisers who control review platforms, but a publisher who curates third-party reviews inherits a duty not to distort them, even without paying for the content. Nothing in the revised Guides prices a disclosure's commercial value or estimates enforcement risk in dollar terms; that judgment stays the publisher's own.

What to check before you rely on it

Treat the following as an editorial checklist, not legal advice: confirm every paid or gifted relationship behind a review is disclosed in the endorsement itself, not on a linked about page; confirm any review-moderation tool does not selectively suppress negative reviews; and confirm any virtual or AI-generated persona is not presented as a fabricated endorser.

• Does every sponsored post or affiliate link disclose the relationship in the post itself, not only in a linked policy page?
• Does the site's review moderation ever remove or reorder reviews in a way that changes the overall impression a reader gets?
• Would a reader unfamiliar with the brand relationship still recognize a paid or incentivized endorsement from the post alone?

The 2023 revision does not invent new liability from nothing; it makes explicit, in the Commission's own text, disclosure failures the FTC had already begun treating as deceptive.