Sitejabber, an "AI-enabled reviews platform" developed with a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation has been banned from providing misleading ratings and reviews, in a settlement announced today by the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC says Sitejabber deceived consumers by misrepresenting that the ratings and reviews it published came from customers who had actually experienced the reviewed product or service and artificially inflated average ratings and review counts.
The NSF grant, made in December 2011, states that, "The principal impact of this project is the protection of consumers from online fraud."
On its website, the NSF claims that, "Using the software developed, SiteJabber has so far uncovered over 1,500 websites selling counterfeit goods and suspect pharmaceuticals to unsuspecting consumers. SiteJabber expects the software to eventually uncover tens or even hundreds of thousands of fraudulent online businesses and expand beyond counterfeits to other classes of fraudulent sites."
Instead, according to the FTC's November 2024 complaint, Sitejabber collected ratings and reviews from consumers for its online business clients at the time of purchase, before they received or had the chance to experience the products or services they bought -- making it impossible for them to provide a factual review.
The company used these ratings and reviews to deceptively inflate the average ratings and review counts of its clients on the company’s review platform, the FTC's complaint said. The inflated ratings and review counts were also displayed in Google and other search results.
The NSF didn't immediately respond to ConsumerAffairs's request for comment. Nor did Sitejabber.
Deception in the review ecosystem
“Platforms don’t have free rein to mislead people about the consumer reviews shown for companies and their products,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a November 2024 news release. “Along with our rule on fake reviews and testimonials, cases like this one show that we’ll act to stop all forms of deception in the review ecosystem.”
The FTC alleges Sitejabber provided its clients with "pre-fulfilment product ratings and reviews," thus providing them with the means to misrepresent that the reviews and ratings are from customers who had received their purchases. Ratings on the site “indicat[e] that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases,” the FTC said in its complaint.
Sitejabber’s ratings and review counts were also displayed in Google and other search results.
Sitejabber says it is a certified Google Reviews partner and claims its services have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, MSN Money and other prominent publications.
Indeed, in December 2021, in a story about counterfeit wedding gowns, the Times said: "One helpful website is Sitejabber, where consumers leave reviews of businesses." We couldn't confirm the claim about Sitejabber being mentioned in other publications.
In 2023, Sitejabber relaunched its review management platform under a new name, Jabio, which states that its technology allows brands to "manage their reputation by collecting, monitoring, and distributing reviews."
The company says that this update helps distinguish the Jabio business platform from the Sitejabber site.
Misrepresentations prohibited
The final order settling the Commission’s complaint prohibits the company from "misrepresenting, or assisting anyone else in misrepresenting, that the average customer rating, number of ratings or reviews, or any rating or review of a product, service, or business reflects the views of customers who actually received the product or service purchased or had an opportunity to experience the product or service."
It also bars Sitejabber from "making or assisting anyone else in making any misrepresentation about any ratings, average ratings, or reviews it collects, moderates, or displays."
Finally, the proposed order prohibits Sitejabber from "providing others with the means to misrepresent that ratings or reviews collected at the time of purchase were from consumers who had received or had the opportunity to experience the product or service purchased."