Fashion Nova suppressed its bad reviews — the FTC's first such case cost $4.2M

From late 2015 to November 2019, Fashion Nova used a third-party review tool configured so that four- and five-star reviews were posted to its site automatically while any review below four stars was held for the company's approval. The approvals never came; hundreds of thousands of negative reviews were simply never published, so shoppers saw a wall of praise.

On January 25, 2022, the FTC announced the first action of its kind against review suppression, settling for $4.2 million — at the time the largest penalty for the practice. 'Deceptive review practices cheat consumers, undercut honest businesses, and pollute online commerce,' said Samuel Levine, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. 'Fashion Nova is being held accountable for these practices, and other firms should take note.'

Fashion Nova denied the allegations, calling them 'inaccurate and deceptive,' insisting it had never suppressed reviews, and saying it settled 'to avoid the distraction and legal fees' of litigation — a case it claimed it 'would have won in court.' The denial did not change the order: the company must stop suppressing reviews and the money goes to affected shoppers.