Forty-five businesses in Singapore, ranging from restaurants to hair salons, will be required to issue public apologies after admitting that they purchased fake online reviews to improve their ratings, according to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS).
The companies have also undertaken to stop using fabricated reviews, remove existing bogus reviews and report their progress to the competition watchdog, CNA reported.
The 45 businesses form part of a wider group of around 100 companies caught up in what CCS described as its largest investigation into fake reviews to date.
According to CCS, the businesses were found to have purchased fabricated reviews from Julian Tung Yan Kai, director of digital marketing firm Reputifly.
Tung also owns and operates BuyReviewSG and GetReviewSG, which offered fake-review services to businesses.
The reviews were posted across several major online platforms, including Google, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Carousell, Yelp and Trustpilot.
Given the scale of the investigation, CCS said it is carrying out the probe in two phases.
The first phase covered 47 businesses, of which 45 admitted purchasing fake reviews from Reputifly and provided undertakings to the commission. The remaining two companies declined to provide such undertakings.
The second phase will cover the remaining businesses as well as other companies that may have purchased fake reviews from the same provider.
Among the measures imposed on the 45 businesses are commitments to cease the practice, remove fake reviews already posted and update CCS on their compliance efforts.
The commission also called on other providers of fabricated reviews, as well as businesses that have used such services, to voluntarily come forward.
The case highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of deceptive online practices as consumers increasingly rely on ratings and reviews when deciding where to spend and which services to use.
