Fashion Nova Fined $4.2M After FTC Caught Them Deleting Negative Reviews

Online fasion retailer Fashion Nova is major player in the fashion industry. The brand has previously collaborated with the likes of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. The retailer has run into some legal trouble after alleged efforts to suppress negative customer reviews came to light.

The Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday, that Fasion Nova would be required to pay a fine of $4.2 million to settle the allegations that it had suppressed customer reviews that gave it’s products less that four or five stars. FTC said it was it’s first case involving a company’s efforts to conceal negative reviews.

The FTC said in it’s complaint, the fast fashion brand used a third-party product review system that held lower starred reviews for approval before they could be posted. Between the period of 2015 to 2019, Fashion Nova automatically posted four and five-star reviews to it’s site but did not publish hundreds of thousands of lower starred or negative reviews.

A representative for Fashion Nova soon came forward to deny the allegations against the company. The rep told Sourcing Journal, “The Federal Trade Commission’s allegations against Fashion Nova are inaccurate and deceptive,” The rep added, “Fashion Nova never suppressed any website reviews, and it immediately and voluntarily addressed the website review issues when it became aware of them in 2019.”

Fashion Nova isn’t the only company in FTC’s cross-sights. The agency reportedly has a handful of other companies which uses a similar model of review management. May this incident with Fashion Nova serve as warning sign for other businesses that use devious practices to keep potential consumers from warnings of e-commerce products. Meanwhile, you can check out a picture of Megan Thee Stallion’s collaboration with the brand below.

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