Consumer Review Fairness Act: What Your Business Can and Cannot Do About Negative Reviews

Most business owners know they cannot buy fake reviews. Far fewer know that a single line buried in their standard service agreement can also break federal law. The Consumer Review Fairness Act makes certain contract terms illegal even when a business has never once tried to enforce them, and the fix takes an afternoon.

Key Takeaways

1. The Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 voids contract terms that block, penalize, or claim ownership of customer reviews.
2. The law applies to form contracts, including online terms and conditions, not negotiated agreements.
3. Employment contracts and independent contractor agreements sit outside the law entirely.
4. Simply having a prohibited clause can trigger FTC or state enforcement, even if never used.  
5. Businesses may still remove reviews that are defamatory, private, unrelated, or clearly false.
6. A separate 2024 FTC rule governs how you may respond to reviews you dislike.

What Is the Consumer Review Fairness Act?

The Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 is a federal law that protects a customer’s ability to publish an honest assessment of a business, and it does so by making certain contract terms unenforceable. Congress passed it as H.R. 5111 in the 114th Congress, and it was signed into law in December 2016. The Federal Trade Commission published its business guidance in February 2017.

The stakes behind the law are visible in how much weight buyers now place on reviews. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, based on a representative panel of 1,002 US adult consumers, found that 97% of consumers rely on reviews to guide their purchase decisions, and that 41% now always read reviews when browsing for a business, up from 29% in 2025. A contract term that suppresses honest feedback interferes with the primary way customers evaluate businesses.

“97% of consumers rely on reviews to guide their purchase decisions” (BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey, 2026)

The law was established in response to a specific practice. Some companies had begun writing provisions into their standard contracts and online terms that let them sue or fine customers who posted negative reviews. Reporting on a handful of aggressive cases, including businesses that pursued customers for hundreds or thousands of dollars over a bad review, made the problem visible enough for Congress to act.

The protection is broader than product reviews. According to the FTC’s guidance, the law covers honest consumer assessments in any forum, including online reviews, social media posts, uploaded photos and videos, and evaluations of a company’s customer service rather than only its products.

What Does the Consumer Review Fairness Act Prohibit?

The law makes three specific kinds of contract provisions illegal. A provision violates the Act if it does any of the following:

1. Bars or restricts the ability of someone who is party to the contract to review the company’s products, services, or conduct.
2. Imposes a penalty or a fee against someone who gives a review.
3. Requires people to give up their intellectual property rights in the content of their reviews.

That third one catches businesses off guard most often. A clause assigning the company copyright over anything a customer writes about it may look like routine boilerplate, but it gives the business a route to file takedown notices against reviews it does not like. The Act closes that route.

The prohibited terms are void whether or not the business has ever acted on them. The FTC has been direct on this point: A company should remove any offending provision even if they have never tried to enforce it or have no intention of enforcing it.

Which Contracts Does the Law Cover, and Which Are Exempt?

The Act applies to form contracts, meaning standardized terms imposed on a customer without a meaningful opportunity to negotiate. This covers the documents most businesses use every day: online terms and conditions, checkout agreements, service contracts, rental and booking agreements, intake paperwork, and point-of-sale forms.

Two categories fall outside the law. The FTC’s guidance states plainly that it does not apply to employment contracts or agreements with independent contractors. A non-disparagement clause in a severance agreement or a contractor engagement is governed by employment law and other statutes, not by this Act. Businesses researching non-disparagement language for staff agreements are looking at a different legal question than the one this law answers.

Genuinely negotiated contracts, where both sides had real ability to shape the terms, also sit outside the definition of a form contract.

What Can Your Business Still Do About a Negative Review?

The law does not require you to host every piece of content a customer submits. The FTC’s guidance confirms that a business may prohibit or remove a review that:

• contains confidential or private information, such as financial details, medical information, personnel file contents, or trade secrets.
• is libelous, harassing, abusive, obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, or inappropriate with respect to race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or another intrinsic characteristic.
• is unrelated to the company’s products or services.
• is clearly false or misleading.

The fourth category is narrower than it sounds, and the FTC anticipated businesses stretching it. Its guidance adds the qualifier directly: It is unlikely that a consumer’s assessment or opinion with which you disagree meets the clearly false or misleading standard. Disagreeing with a review is not the same as the review being false.

That distinction matters for anyone weighing options against a review that is unfair but not fabricated. Where content genuinely violates a platform’s published policies, flagging it for removal through the platform’s own process is a legitimate path. Where it does not, the realistic options are a strong public response and improving what surrounds it in search results, not removal.

What Are the Penalties for Violating the Consumer Review Fairness Act?

Under the Act, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general have enforcement authority. A CRFA violation is treated the same as violating an FTC rule that defines an unfair or deceptive act or practice, which means a business can face financial penalties as well as a federal court order.

The exposure does not depend on a customer being harmed. In its own summary of its first enforcement actions, the FTC noted that the existence of an illegal contract provision alone can subject a company to federal or state enforcement, and that the FTC and states can act whether or not the company followed through on its threats. Civil penalty amounts for violations of Commission orders are adjusted annually, so any figure should be checked against the current FTC schedule rather than an older press release.

There is also a reputational cost that arrives before any consumer review fairness act penalties do. An enforcement action against a business for trying to silence its customers is exactly the kind of coverage that then needs  reputation repair of its own.

What Did the FTC’s First Enforcement Cases Involve?

The FTC brought its first actions focused solely on the CRFA in 2019, against three companies in unrelated industries: A Pennsylvania HVAC and electrical provider, a Massachusetts flooring firm, and a Nevada horseback trail riding operation. Each agreed to stop using the clauses and to notify affected customers that the language was not enforceable.

The contract language in one of those complaints is worth reading closely, because it shows how a clause can violate the Act without ever mentioning the word “review.” According to the FTC, the HVAC company’s form contract told customers the terms were confidential and shall not be made public, or given to anyone else to make public, including the Better Business Bureau, with liquidated damages owed if the customer breached that confidentiality. 

A confidentiality clause that functions as a review ban is still a review ban. Businesses concerned about complaint activity have legitimate routes available, including  responding to and disputing BBB complaints through the BBB’s own process.

The Commission brought further actions later the same year against a Florida vacation property rental company and a Maryland rental home manager, again requiring both to tell affected consumers that the non-disparagement clauses were void.

How Does the CRFA Differ From the FTC’s 2024 Review Rule?

They target different things. The CRFA governs what you may write into a contract. The FTC’s Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, which took effect on October 21, 2024, governs conduct around reviews themselves, including fake reviews, bought reviews, and pressure applied to reviewers.

Most businesses need to satisfy both. A contract can be clean under the CRFA while the company’s review practices still run afoul of the 2024 rule, and the reverse is equally possible. Our overview of the FTC’s ban on fake reviews covers the fake and incentivized review side in more detail.

What Does the 2024 Rule Say About Pressuring Reviewers?

The rule’s review suppression provisions draw a clear line between legitimate objection and coercion. Reading the FTC’s staff answers on the rule, several things are prohibited and several things remain fully available.

Prohibited 

Using an unfounded or groundless legal threat to prevent a review or to get one removed, where the threat rests on legal contentions unwarranted by existing law or factual contentions with no evidentiary support, is prohibited. 

Also prohibited are physical threats and intimidation, which the FTC says extends beyond physical threats to abusive communications, stalking, character assassination, and harassment used to induce fear. 

Making a false accusation about a reviewer, knowing it is false or with reckless disregard for whether it is, is likewise off limits.

Permitted

You are still permitted to threaten legal action when you have a legitimate basis for it, respond publicly to a review, contact a customer to resolve the problem they described, and ask satisfied customers to update their reviews. 

Organizing reviews on your own site is not suppression under the rule, though the FTC notes that arranging them so negative reviews are hard to find could still be an unfair or deceptive practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act.

Extended Liability

One detail deserves attention from any business that hires outside help. The FTC states that advertising agencies, public relations firms, review brokers, and reputation management companies are not immune from liability under the rule and can be liable for review suppression themselves.

A vendor promising to make negative reviews disappear regardless of whether they violate platform policy is describing a service that carries risk for both of you. Any credible  review management service works within platform policy and federal rules rather than around them.

A Compliance Checklist for Your Contracts and Review Practices

Work through the following, and keep a dated record that you did.

1. Pull every form document a customer signs or accepts. That includes website terms and conditions, checkout flows, service agreements, intake forms, booking confirmations, and any paperwork a sales rep carries.
2. Search each one for language restricting what a customer may publish, imposing a fee or penalty for a review, or assigning the company rights over customer-created content. Confidentiality and non-disparagement wording deserves a close reading even when reviews are never mentioned.
3. Remove the offending language rather than softening it, and do it whether or not you have ever enforced it.
4. Separate your employee and contractor agreements from this review, since the Act does not reach them and different rules apply.
5. Check your review solicitation practices against the 2024 rule. Incentives conditioned on positive sentiment are prohibited, and asking only customers you expect to be happy is  review gating, which can raise problems under the FTC Act.
6. Give your team a written policy for responding to negative reviews that rules out legal threats without a legitimate basis, and personal accusations against reviewers.
7. Document your process for flagging content that genuinely violates platform policy, so removal requests are grounded in a stated policy violation.

What Can You Do About Reviews You Cannot Remove?

Most negative reviews are not removable, and that is a situation worth planning for. A review from a real customer describing a real experience is protected, even when it is unflattering and even when you believe it is unfair.

Three approaches remain open.  Responding publicly and well demonstrates to every future reader how the business handles criticism, which often matters more to them than the complaint itself, and readers now expect it quickly. BrightLocal’s 2026 survey found that 19% of consumers expect a response to their review on the same day they post it, up from 6% the year before, with a further 32% expecting one by the following day. 

Requesting removal through the platform’s process is appropriate where content actually breaches published policy, whether that is a  Google review or a  Trustpilot review. And where a damaging result cannot be removed at all, building and promoting stronger assets can change what a search for your business surfaces first.

For customers on the other side of this question, our guide to whether  leaving a bad review can get you sued covers the reviewer’s position.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Consumer Review Fairness Act in simple terms?

It is a federal law that makes it illegal for a business to use standardized contract terms that stop customers from posting honest reviews, penalize customers for doing so, or claim ownership of customers’ review content. The FTC and state attorneys general enforce it.

Does the Consumer Review Fairness Act apply to employee reviews on sites like Glassdoor?

No. The FTC’s guidance states the law does not apply to employment contracts or agreements with independent contractors. Employee reviews raise separate legal questions, and a non-disparagement clause in an employment agreement is governed by other law.

What are the penalties for violating the Consumer Review Fairness Act?

A violation is treated the same as violating an FTC rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice, which exposes a business to financial penalties and a federal court order. Enforcement can follow from the presence of the clause alone, without any attempt to enforce it.

Can a business ask a customer to take down a negative review?

Asking is not itself prohibited, and contacting a customer to resolve their complaint is expressly permitted. What the 2024 FTC rule prohibits is using unfounded legal threats, intimidation, or knowingly false accusations to get a review removed or changed.

Can a business still remove a review that is defamatory or contains private information?

Yes. The Act permits prohibiting or removing content that is libelous, harassing, obscene, or abusive, contains confidential or private information, is unrelated to your products or services, or is clearly false or misleading. Disagreeing with an opinion does not meet that last standard.

Does the Consumer Review Fairness Act mean customers can say anything they want?

No. The law protects honest assessments. It does not shield defamatory statements, and it does not require a business to publish content that violates the categories listed above.

This article is general information about federal law and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified attorney about how these rules apply to your specific contracts and circumstances.