Competition Bureau Fake Reviews Rules: What Canadian Businesses Must Know

Canada has no stand-alone fake review law. For the Competition Bureau, fake reviews, undisclosed employee reviews and reviews bought through third parties are false or misleading representations under the Competition Act. Businesses can face administrative monetary penalties, and knowing or reckless cases can be prosecuted. Asking real customers for honest reviews is still fine.

Yes, they can be. Fake reviews fall under the general misleading advertising provisions of the federal Competition Act, which the Competition Bureau enforces under both a civil and a criminal track.

The civil provision, paragraph 74.01(1)(a), covers anyone who "makes a representation to the public that is false or misleading in a material respect" to promote a product or business interest. The criminal provision, section 52, covers the same kind of representation when it is made knowingly or recklessly. The Bureau's Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest describes fake reviews as astroturfing: "creating commercial representations that masquerade as the authentic experiences and opinions of impartial consumers."

Liability is not limited to the person who types the review. In its January 18, 2024 warning, the Bureau said that anyone who writes reviews, or allows them to be written, that create a false or misleading impression may be liable under the Act.

The Bureau looks at whether a review gives the impression of coming from an independent customer when it does not. The table below sets common practices against the Bureau's published concerns and Google's own policy.

Only with a clear, visible disclosure, and on Google not at all. The Bureau's January 2024 warning says employees must disclose any connection to the business they review, or to a competitor, even when their opinion is honest, because that connection affects how consumers judge independence.

The Bureau went further on star ratings. If the disclosure cannot be shown clearly within the review, the employee should not post it, and should not leave a star rating where the disclosure would be separated from the rating. It also told businesses to train staff and to run a compliance program with monitoring.

One Canadian case shows the risk. In October 2015 Bell Canada entered a consent agreement and paid an administrative monetary penalty after employees were encouraged to give five-star ratings to two of its apps without disclosing that they worked for the company. For Google reviews the practical answer is simpler: Google's policy treats current or former employees and family members as having a conflict of interest, so staff should ask customers for reviews and never write them.

No, not for Google reviews. The Competition Act has no clause written specifically about review rewards, but the Bureau has named incentives for positive reviews as one of the ways companies inflate their ratings, and Google bans incentives outright.

Google's user-contributed content policy says merchants may not offer "incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services" for reviews. That covers a coffee card stamp, a draw entry or 10% off your next visit, whether or not you ask for a positive review. Keep loyalty programs and contests completely separate from review requests. Our guide to Google's review policy covers the full list of banned practices.

Not on Google. Google's policy says merchants may not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers", so a funnel that sends only happy customers to Google breaks it.

Gating also sits badly with how Canadian law judges advertising. The Bureau's guidance notes that courts look at the general impression a representation creates, not just its literal words, and its consumer alert on fake reviews warns: "When a company has only 5-star reviews, that's a red flag." A rating built by filtering out unhappy customers creates exactly that impression. Our explainer on review gating shows how to spot it in review software.

Penalties range from administrative monetary penalties under the civil track to fines and prison under the criminal track, plus Google's own sanctions on your Business Profile.

The exact caps are set out in section 74.1 of the Act, linked in the sources below. Civil orders can also require a business to stop the conduct, publish a corrective notice and pay restitution. Since June 20, 2025, private parties can also ask the Competition Tribunal for leave to bring deceptive marketing cases where it is in the public interest, so enforcement no longer depends only on the Bureau.

Google applies its own penalties as well. On top of removing reviews that break its policy, it says it may stop a profile from receiving new reviews for a set period, unpublish existing reviews, or show a warning that fake reviews were removed. Owners are notified by email and can appeal.

Ask every customer the same way, with nothing in return, and let them write what they want. That keeps you inside both the Competition Act and Google's policy.

A printed prompt at the counter makes the asking consistent. A Google review card holds your review link on an NFC chip, with an optional printed QR code, and arrives pre-programmed for a one-off price with no subscription. Offer it to every customer, not just the regulars. For wording that stays natural, see how to ask customers for Google reviews, and for related rules in other countries, visit our review rules hub.

Report the review to Google first, then to the Competition Bureau if you see an organized campaign. Google only removes reviews that break its policies, and you can flag them from your Business Profile.

The Bureau invites Canadians who spot a fake review, or an organized effort to inflate a company's ratings or lower a competitor's, to report it through its online complaint form. Keep screenshots with dates. Our guide to fake reviews and how to protect your business explains the warning signs.