ACCC Online Reviews Rules: What Australian Businesses Must Know

The ACCC's online reviews guidance comes down to one rule: reviews must be genuine and independent. Under the Australian Consumer Law it is illegal to create fake or misleading reviews, arrange for others to write them, or manipulate genuine negative ones. Asking every customer for an honest Google review is still perfectly fine.

Australia has no stand-alone review law like the UK's DMCC Act or the US FTC's review rule. Instead, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) applies the general bans on misleading conduct and false testimonials to reviews, and has done so since it published Online reviews: a guide for business and review platforms in December 2013. This guide looks at those rules from the point of view of a local business collecting reviews on its Google Business Profile.

In short, the ACCC says it is illegal for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so. Its current guidance on managing online reviews groups the risks into the practices below.

The Australian Consumer Law (ACL), which is Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, applies. Its general ban on misleading or deceptive conduct covers fake and manipulated reviews, and section 29(1)(e) specifically prohibits a false or misleading representation that purports to be a testimonial by any person. The ACCC enforces these rules, and a review does not have to be on your own website to count: the ACCC says the rules cover reviews on your site, on social media and on review platforms.

Parliament has also passed a separate ban on unfair trading practices that starts on 1 July 2027. It is aimed mainly at manipulative online design, drip pricing and subscription traps rather than reviews, but it is one more reason to keep every customer request simple and honest.

Yes. The ACCC's guidance is aimed at reviews that are fake, undisclosed or manipulated, not at honest requests. Google's policy draws the line in a similar place: it prohibits selectively soliciting positive reviews and offering incentives, not asking customers in general. A Google Review Card, a counter stand or a link on your receipt simply opens your review form, and the customer chooses the rating and writes the words.

Avoid asking only the customers you think are happy. Google prohibits selective solicitation, and a funnel that screens customers first and sends only the satisfied ones to Google is the classic example. Our article on review gating explains why it is not worth the risk.

Under the ACL, an incentive is only acceptable if it applies whether the review is positive or negative and is clearly disclosed so readers know the review was incentivised. Google is stricter: its user-contributed content policy prohibits offering payment, discounts or free goods and services in exchange for a review, whatever the rating. For Google reviews, the practical answer is to offer nothing in return.

Our guide to whether review cards are allowed by Google covers Google's side in more detail.

Not as if they were ordinary customers. The ACCC says you should not ask others, including family and third parties, to review your business without prominently disclosing their personal connection or commercial relationship, and its small business guidance notes that a fake review is still against the law when it is written as a favour. Google's policy goes further and prohibits content based on a conflict of interest, including current or former employment, so on Google staff should not review their own workplace at all.

Only fake ones, and only through the proper channel. On Google you remove nothing yourself: you can report a review, but Google removes only reviews that break its policies, and you can reply publicly to correct the record. The ACCC adds that businesses and platforms that fail to remove reviews they know are fake also risk breaching the law, so reporting a genuinely fake review is the right move. Our guide on how to respond to Google reviews has reply examples for negative reviews.

On your own website, the ACCC expects you to display a clear policy for publishing, editing and removing reviews, and to have an adequate basis for concluding a review is fake before you remove it. Keep any star rating you show up to date. In March 2024 the Federal Court ordered penalties against online florist Bloomex after it displayed product star ratings that had not changed since January 2015, alongside other misleading pricing claims.

The ACCC can issue infringement notices or take a business to the Federal Court, which can order penalties, injunctions, compliance requirements and costs. These are the review cases the ACCC itself highlights, plus one testimonial case:

Getting the asking part right is mostly about routine. Our guide to asking customers for Google reviews naturally covers wording and timing, our article on fake Google reviews explains how to spot and report them, and the review rules and compliance hub collects the rest.