Guidance

Reviews: guidance for online review sites

Published 3 September 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reviews-guidance-for-online-review-sites/reviews-guidance-for-online-review-sites

Online reviews can play an important role in helping consumers make the right choices. 

In order to maintain people’s trust, review sites should check and present reviews in a way that avoids distorting the overall picture presented to people that read them. 

Our research estimates that more than half of UK adults use online reviews. 

If your business’s website allows people to review products - whether they’re yours, or someone else’s - you should publish all genuine, relevant and lawful reviews. You should also make sure that your processes to collect, moderate and publish reviews don’t hinder this. 

If you engage in misleading practices when managing or presenting reviews, you could be in breach of consumer protection law.

Be clear with users 

Explain to site users the difference between leaving a review intended for publication and making a complaint to you.

Give users the full picture 

Users of review sites expect your content to accurately reflect reviewers’ feedback on their experiences. Your processes should ensure that users see the full picture, including ensuring: 

  • aggregate ratings reflect all genuine reviews and are not distorted by fake or incentivised reviews
  • published reviews are relevant to the product they describe, and aren’t outdated
  • once submitted, reviews are published without unreasonable delays

“Product” covers goods, services and digital content.

Include negative reviews

Do not only collect reviews from customers you know are satisfied (unless these are clearly labelled as testimonials), or offer incentives for positive reviews. 

You must not: 

  • edit, withhold, remove or delay publication of genuine negative reviews 
  • give businesses the right to block reviews they do not like 
  • make an offer of dispute resolution contingent on a customer not leaving a negative review 
  • treat a negative review intended for publication as a complaint and not publish it 
  • try to persuade customers to submit a complaint to you, rather than a review for publishing 
  • try to dissuade customers from leaving a review on their experience - even if their initial problem has been resolved  

Have the necessary policies and procedures in place 

You should subject both negative and positive reviews to checks of the appropriate rigour, and have procedures in place to prevent and remove fake reviews. You should also have a published policy that clearly prohibits fake reviews and states your approach to banned content. For more information, see our detailed guidance on fake reviews and short guide for businesses. 

Make it clear to site users how reviews have been collected and checked, what they need to do to get their review published, and why their review might not be published. 

Disclose any interests 

Clearly and prominently disclose any commercial relationships you have with the businesses listed.

More information 

These materials do not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.

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