Today, the CMA announced that it has opened an investigation into Autotrader, along with four other companies, focusing on the recently enacted rules, which guard against fake reviews, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2025. The opening of an investigation does not prejudge any finding of wrongdoing, but the investigations demonstrate that the publication and origin of consumer reviews used by businesses remain a key focus for the CMA, and they are focusing on all sectors. Don’t assume that you won’t be caught. Why is Autotrader being investigated? The CMA is investigating the treatment of negative reviews, in particular whether a number of 1-star reviews – which were moderated by Feefo – were not published on Autotrader’s platform, and were not counted towards star ratings, therefore denying consumers a fully rounded picture of other customers’ experiences. The case shows that suppression of negative reviews is highly sensitive under the new DMCC Act rules. What are the other cases? The other cases launched by the CMA also give an indication of the kind of review activity they are focusing on: Dignity – Misleading reviews: Whether Dignity asked staff to write positive reviews about the company’s crematoria services – giving people a potentially inaccurate picture of genuine customers’ feedback. Just Eat – Star ratings: Whether Just Eat’s ratings system has inflated certain restaurants’ and grocers’ star ratings – giving consumers a potentially misleading picture of quality when choosing where to order. Pasta Evangelists – Discounts for reviews: Whether customers were offered discounts on future orders in exchange for leaving 5-star reviews on delivery apps, without this being disclosed – meaning people may not have known how reliable or representative those ratings were What does this mean for dealership groups? Dealer groups use consumer reviews in varying ways. Those that host reviews on their own website (like Autotrader) will have the greatest risk exposure. However, as the cases above show, even linking to reviews hosted on well-established third party review platforms such as Trustpilot or Google Reviews in not risk free. For example, the following practices could breach the DMCCA: A sales assistant at a dealership group says he’ll wave the collection fee if the customer leaves a 5-star review mentioning his name on Trustpilot. The manager of a local dealership notices that they’ve had a recent run of negative 1-star reviews on Google Reviews, so she instructs staff to create fake Google accounts or use family logins to leave positive reviews. It’s important to remember that as with all consumer protection laws, traders are ultimately responsible for the actions of their staff. What should dealers do to manage the risks? The CMA guidance advises that businesses conduct risk assessments to determine their risk exposure in relation to fake and misleading reviews. Ultimately though, dealers can manage their risk exposure by putting in place reasonable and proportionate measures designed to ensure they stay on the right side of the law. This should include having clear policies in place and ensuring that staff are trained to understand the risks. TLT has extensive experience of advising businesses on compliance with the fake review rules under the DMCCA, including advising on CMA enforcement on this topic. Please reach out if you need support – richard.collie@tlt.com.