A draft law has been announced by Italy’s government, looking at regulating the amount of fake reviews online. If accepted by the parliament, an ID and proof of visit will be required in order to be able to write a hotel or restaurant review.
While fake reviews are currently already illegal in Italy, it has proven difficult to regulate the issue. In an attempt to make things clearer for both tourists and businesses, the new law would ask anyone writing a review for a valid ID and a proof of visit, such as a check-in confirmation. The reviews will also need to be posted within 15 days from the visit. An Italian anti-trust watchdog would then hand out fines to those not obliging to those rules.
“Today marks an important step for the protection of our businesses,” said Italy’s tourism minister Daniela Santanché. “Reviews, which thanks to this regulatory intervention will actually be truthful, are fundamental for the success of companies and for the trust of consumers and tourists.”
Fake reviews can be both negative and positive, the latter often paid-for by businesses in order to boost their brand. According to the Italian Ministry of Enterprises, between 6 and 30 per cent of a business’s revenue can be affected by fake reviews.
“The plague of false reviews has for too long put the catering sector and public establishments at risk, creating economic damage and compromising consumer confidence,” said Roberto Calugi, business federation Fipe-Confcommercio’s general director. “It is no longer tolerable that business activities suffer the consequences of fraudulent and untruthful judgments, which often translate into unfair competition and hidden advertising.”
If the new law is adopted by the parliament, businesses will be able to ask for fake reviews to be deleted and once a review is over two years old and no longer relevant, they will also be able to have them removed. That way, it will for example be easier for consumers to see which reviews are still applicable to the current owners of a business and so on.
“Fake reviews are a problem for fair competition between companies because they can have a big impact on sales, and are also a problem for consumers who can be misled,” Michele Carrus, chairman of consumer association Federconsumatori, told Reuters. “The problem needed to be addressed. It’s difficult to do it the right way, but I’m confident we can achieve that during the parliamentary debate.”
