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The Digital Markets and Consumer Bill is being introduced to even the playing field against global businesses. But it will also prevent any business from incentivising fake reviews. Stay up to date on the evolving situation and grasp the fundamentals by reading on!

What is the draft Digital Markets and Consumer Bill?

The draft Digital Markets and Consumer Bill will help the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) to enforce pro-competition in digital markets, including on social media and on search engines. The DMU was set up within the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) with a view that it would be given statutory powers.

The draft Bill proposes ways that dominating tech firms and digital service providers should treat their customers and smaller businesses within their industry. Tech businesses that are seen to break the rules could be handed severe fines and even sanctions.

Tackling the fake review industry

One aspect of the draft Digital Markets and Consumer Bill is to tackle fake reviews that mislead consumers into purchasing products or subscribing to services. Under the new Bill, it will become illegal for any business to write a fake review or pay someone else to write a fake review about their products or services.

The fake review industry is real, with many businesses willing to pay the general public handsomely for convincing fake reviews or fake comments on a social media post. They do this because they know a series of stellar reviews can attract a lot of paying customers. The Guardian reports that the average UK household spends £900 each year after being influenced by online reviews.

It will also be illegal to host fake reviews, which will mean the business website, Google and review sites like Trustpilot will need to take further measures to clamp down on fake reviews. Sometimes they do this by requesting proof of purchase. But more may need to be done in the future.

An end to “subscription traps”

The draft Bill will also try to protect consumers from what is being called “subscription traps”. These are often when a consumer gets into a long-term subscription service without realising or without being able to exit the agreement easily and affordably.

Specifically, businesses that offer a free trial that automatically leads to a paid subscription will be forced to remind the consumer that the free trial is coming to an end. Thus, they must give the consumer a firm reminder and an opportunity to cancel before the paid subscription kicks in. They must also give a warning before a paid subscription automatically renews for another term and make ending any subscription service easy.

Other takeaways from the draft Bill

As part of the overarching aim of fairer competition, tech and social media giants like Google and Facebook will be required to pay for media and journalism from other businesses when it appears on their platforms.

Businesses like these will have to negotiate payment for their content due to concerns that they’re dominating online marketing without treating the businesses that use them fairly. If no negotiation is reached, an independent regulator will set a fair price.

How to prepare your business for changes

Hopefully your business isn’t contributing to the fake review industry, but if it is, it’s time to stop and look for alternative ways to promote your products and services, such as digital marketing. WEBPRO Estate can assist you in getting exposure to your offerings to supercharge sales.

You may also need to make changes to your subscription service content and create reminder emails. We can also help with these things if required. The good news is that smaller and medium-sized businesses will benefit from the changes, which are predominantly designed to even the playing field against global outfits.

Recap: The draft Digital Markets and Consumer Bill aims to increase fair competition online, which can have numerous benefits for consumers. It contains several measures and new rules, including making it illegal to pay for or host a fake review on your business website. Other interesting measures include changes to the way subscription services are provided to prevent “subscription traps”.

P.S. The CMA could fine businesses up to 10% of global turnover for mistreating customers with fake reviews and subscription traps.