Last year we discussed the potential liability of Internet websites such as TripAdvisor that may post unfavorable travel reviews of hotels [see Liability for Unfavorable Travel Reviews (eTN 1/31/2014)] and the liability of consumers who post negative reviews and who are sued by offended suppliers seeking to enforce a non-disparagement clause buried in their websiteโs terms and conditions [see Unfavorable travel reviews: If you write a bad review, can you be sued? (eTN 11/6/2014)]. This week we examine recent developments in the influential realm of online reviews.
Online Reviews In Italy & France
In Scott, TripAdvisor Fined $610,000 in Italy for Failing to Prevent Fake Reviews, http://bits.blog.nytimes.com (12/23/2014) it was noted that โTripAdvisor, the travel review website, has gotten a bad comment from the Italian competition authorities (which issued a fine of 500,000 euros) for not doing enough to prevent false reviews on its site…the Italian Competition Authority called on TripAdvisor to stop โpublishing misleading information about the sources of its reviewsโ and gave the company 90 days to comply with the ruling. The complaint…had been brought by an association of Italian hoteliers and local consumer protection groups…The Italian authorities had investigated whether negative reviews on the companyโs site had been made by individuals who did not visit the hotels and restaurants that they had rated…Companies like Amazon, Yelp and TripAdvisor have tried to excise false reviews…A French court in 2011 fined Expedia-the travel site that previously owned TripAdvisor…$484,000 for misleading marketing practices after it mislabeled the prices on certain hotel rooms in Franceโ.
Linguistics Of Online Reviews
In Erard, The Art of the Amateur Online Review, www.nytimes.com (11/30/2014) it was noted that Dr. Camilla Vasquez, author of โThe Discourse of Online Consumer Reviewsโ (Bloomsbury) โanalyzed 1,000 reviews of hotels, restaurants, movies, consumer products and recipes from five sites: Yelp, TripAdvisor, Amazon, Epicurious and Netflixโ seeking to discover โinsights about the state of the English language and the mind of the modern consumerโ. Some interesting conclusions included โthe length of the review corresponded with an itemโs priceโ, โThe most frequent interjections were โwowโ, โyeahโ, โyuckโ, โyikesโ, โsheeshโ, โyumโ and โyippeโ…Among the frequent three-word phrases…were โin the roomโ and โthe front deskโ. From these patterns (Dr. Vasquez) surmised that consumers who stayed in hotels were about equally focused on the roomโs quality as they were on customer service…Dr. Vasquez says she is often asked about fake reviews. A typical red flag is that they are usually posted by someone who has no other reviews listed and they donโt describe the product or service with certain details.
In 2011, researches at Cornell University discovered that fake reviews tended to use more superlatives than real ones and used โIโ and โweโ more often…one possible sign of a fake hotel review is an absence of spatial information about the room. Then there are the reviews that a company asks customers to write… Solicited reviews occupy a gray area…as most reviewers donโt disclose whether their comments were solicited…In general, Dr. Vasquez found online reviews to be remarkably well writtenโ.
YELP Fined $450,000 By FTC
In Fair, FTC case against Yelp shows that COPPA isnโt just for kidsโ sites, business.ftc.gov/blog/2014/09/ftc-case, it is noted โThis is a post about the Childrenโs Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule…Yelp is an online service where people can read and create reviews about businesses and connect with others online at local events. Many users post profiles with photos and detailed information about themselves. Yelpโs โcheck inโ feature lets users announce their presence at a certain business. Yelp introduced its apps in 2009 so people can access those services from their mobile devices. Before that, people had to register through the companyโs website, which had a screening mechanism that prohibited users under 13 from signing up. Why that age? Because COPPA applies to operators of general audience websites or online services-including apps-with actual knowledge theyโre collecting, using or disclosing personal information from kids under 13…The problem with Yelp apps was how that age-screening mechanism worked-or more accurately, didnโt work. People who registered on the app were asked for a date of birth, but regardless of what they entered, the Yelp app allowed them to sign up and gave them full access to all features. Yelp also collected certain information automatically from the phones of registered Yelp users…Given the flaw in the appโs age-screening mechanism, that meant Yelp was collecting personal information from users who said they were under 13 without parental notice and consent. According to the FTC, that went on from April 2009 to April 2013 on both the IOS and Android versions of the Yelp app-and in violation of the COPPA Rule…The settlement imposes a $450,000 civil penalty, requires the company to comply with COPPA in the future and mandates a report to the FTC a year from now describing what Yelp is doing to complyโ.
Conclusion
Online reviews are an important source of information to consumers as well as to competing businesses in the travel industry. However, it is also important to reduce the incidence of fake or misleading reviews and comply with applicable online regulations.
The author, Justice Dickerson, been writing about Travel Law for 38 years including his annually-updated law books, Travel Law, Law Journal Press (2014), and Litigating International Torts in U.S. Courts, Thomson Reuters WestLaw (2014), and over 300 legal articles many of which are available at www.nycourts.gov/courts/9jd/taxcertatd.shtml .
This article may not be reproduced without the permission of Thomas A. Dickerson.