FTC Targets Anti-Competitive Violations, Fake Amazon Posts
But the burden of proof of such harm has been a high bar. “The FTC, if it is to remain relevant, needs some way of assessing the evident competition problems in the tech sector and taking action when necessary,” said Columbia University law professor Tim Wu. “The FTC needs to get past its laser-focus on consumer prices, and figure out what competitive harm means in today’s tech markets.”
The European Union, meanwhile, has assessed Alphabet with “billions in fines for alleged antitrust violations.”
TechCrunch reports that the FTC’s case against Cure Encapsulations includes company owner Naftula Jacobwitz, who paid a website (amazonverifiedreviews.com) to “post favorable reviews in order to boost its rating.” Jacobowitz emailed that site’s operator to say “he’d pay a total of $1,000 for 30 reviews, three per day, with the goal of increasing its 4.2 rating to 4.3, which he claimed was necessary in order to have sales.” His second goal was to keep the product at five stars.
The site then posted such reviews, making “false claims, including that the pills were a powerful appetite suppressant, caused weight loss of up to 20 pounds, and blocked the formation of new fat cells.” Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the judgment of $12.1 million will be suspended “upon payment of $50,000 to the FTC and certain unpaid income tax obligations.”
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/ftc-targets-anti-competitive-violations-fake-amazon-posts/