Fashion Nova blocked negative customer reviews, FTC says
CBSN
Fashion Nova will pay $4.2 million to settle allegations that the online retailer blocked negative customer reviews from being posted on its website, the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday in announcing the first-of-its kind case for the agency.
The California retailer, which mostly sells its "fast-fashion" products online, suppressed reviews with ratings lower than four stars out of five, the FTC alleged in its complaint.
Fashion Nova used a third-party firm to automatically post four- and five-star reviews, but held more critical consumer takes for the company's approval, according to the agency. From late 2015 until November 2019, Fashion Nova did not approve or post the more negative reviews, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, the FTC alleged.