The United Kingdom’s new law regulating digital markets will also greatly enhance the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority’s powers to enforce consumer protection laws, including new and reinforced rules on publishing and facilitating the publication of fake reviews, McGuireWoods London partner Matthew Hall told Compliance Week in a Feb. 24, 2025, story.
Hall, an antitrust lawyer and member of McGuireWoods’ Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation Department, said compliance officers need to be aware of the changes contained in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and take “practical steps” to update their consumer protection compliance policies. The publication of fake reviews will remain a key focus area of the CMA, given its high profile and direct impact on consumers.
“These [new laws on the issue] will have a very wide scope and cover traders as well as intermediaries such as search engines and online marketplaces,” Hall said. “Businesses that simply use ranking information on their products taken from a consumer review platform will be caught.”