Rytr sold an AI that wrote fake reviews — the FTC banned it, then unbanned it

Rytr, an AI writing service, sold a 'Testimonial & Review' feature that generated detailed consumer reviews from minimal input. In September 2024, in its 'Operation AI Comply' sweep, the FTC charged that the service produced reviews containing specific, often material details with no relation to the user's input — details that 'almost certainly would be false for the users who copied them and published them online'. Offering such a service, the complaint said, was an unfair practice 'likely to pollute the marketplace with a glut of fake reviews'.

On 18 December 2024 the FTC approved a final consent order, 3–2, barring Rytr from advertising, promoting, marketing or selling any service dedicated to — or promoted as — generating consumer reviews or testimonials. The product at the centre of the case was shut down: a rare enforcement in which the regulator acted against the factory of deceptive advertising, not just an instance of it.

Then the regulator reversed itself. On 22 December 2025 the FTC voted 2–0 to reopen and set aside its own final order, finding that the complaint failed to satisfy the legal requirements of the FTC Act and that the order unduly burdened AI innovation under the administration's AI executive order and action plan. The commission redirected enforcement at those who publish fake reviews under its Consumer Review Rule, where penalties can reach $53,088 per violation.