Consumer Review Fairness Act: What It Voids
The Consumer Review Fairness Act voids form-contract clauses that restrict, penalize, or claim ownership of a customer's honest review.
The Consumer Review Fairness Act, codified at 15 U.S.C. 45b, voids any clause in a form contract that prohibits or restricts a customer's review. It voids clauses that impose a penalty or fee on a customer for writing one, and clauses that require the customer to transfer intellectual property rights in the review. Those provisions are void from the inception of the contract, whether or not the business ever tried to enforce them, and offering a contract that contains one is itself unlawful. This page is general information rather than legal advice, so run your own contracts past a lawyer.
For business owners the practical reading is short. The CRFA governs what your paperwork can say about reviews. It does not give you a route to remove a review from Google or Yelp, which is a separate question covered in whether it is legal to remove Google reviews.
What the statute covers
Two definitions decide whether the CRFA applies. A covered communication is a written, oral, or pictorial review, performance assessment, or other similar analysis of the goods, services, or conduct of a person, written by an individual who is party to a form contract with that person. Pictorial is defined to include pictures, photographs, video, illustrations, and symbols.
A form contract is a contract with standardized terms used in the course of selling or leasing goods or services and imposed on an individual without a meaningful opportunity to negotiate. The click-through terms on a checkout page are the everyday example. The statute carves out employer-employee and independent contractor contracts, so a non-disparagement clause in an employment agreement is a different legal question.
The FTC's guidance for businesses reads the scope broadly. It covers online reviews, social media posts, uploaded photos and video, and assessments of a company's customer service rather than only its products.
The three clauses that are void
- Restriction. Any provision that prohibits or restricts a customer's ability to write a covered communication. Blanket "no negative reviews" language and prior-approval requirements both land here.
- Penalty. Any provision that imposes a penalty or fee on a customer for writing one. The disparagement fee buried in a rental agreement is the textbook case.
- Intellectual property transfer. Any provision that requires the customer to transfer intellectual property rights in the review content. The statute preserves one narrow carve-out, which is a non-exclusive license to use the content.
Subsection (c) makes it unlawful to offer a form contract containing a provision described as void. The FTC puts the compliance step plainly, telling businesses to remove any provision that restricts honest reviews, penalizes the people who write them, or claims copyright over them, even if you have never tried to enforce it and have no intention of enforcing it. A dormant clause drafted in 2014 by a lawyer nobody at your company has spoken to since is still a clause you are offering.
What the CRFA does not do
The statute is not a removal tool, and reading it as one is the mistake that costs businesses money.
Subsection (b)(2)(C) preserves a party's right to remove or refuse to display, on a website or webpage it owns, operates, or controls, content that contains another person's personal information or likeness, is libelous, harassing, abusive, obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, or inappropriate with respect to race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or other intrinsic characteristic, is unrelated to the goods or services offered there, or is clearly false or misleading. Read the location language carefully. That right runs to your own site. Google, Yelp, and Trustpilot are not pages you control, and on those platforms removal is decided by the platform's own policy.
The FTC also pours cold water on the most tempting exception. On "clearly false or misleading", its guidance says it is unlikely that a consumer's assessment or opinion with which you disagree meets that standard.
Other things the statute leaves alone. It does not affect any duty of confidentiality imposed by law, and it does not affect any civil cause of action for defamation, libel, or slander. Paragraph (3) also keeps trade secrets and confidential commercial information, personnel and medical files, law enforcement records, unlawful content, and content carrying viruses or damaging code outside its reach.
Who enforces it
A violation of subsection (c) is treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the FTC Act, which means the FTC enforces it with the same powers and penalties it uses elsewhere. The FTC's guidance notes that a company could face financial penalties as well as a federal court order.
State attorneys general have their own route. Under subsection (e) a state AG may bring a civil action as parens patriae on behalf of state residents, must notify the FTC in writing before filing where feasible, and the FTC may intervene in that action. If the FTC has already instituted an action over the same violation, the state cannot bring its own against the same defendant while that action is pending.
The 2024 FTC rule sits on top
The CRFA governs clauses. The FTC's 2024 final rule, at 16 C.F.R. Part 465, governs conduct, and it reaches further. The rule prohibits creating, selling, buying, or disseminating fake or false reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones and reviews from people who had no experience with the business. It prohibits compensation conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment, positive or negative. It prohibits undisclosed insider reviews and company-controlled review sites that pose as independent.
The provision that catches legitimate businesses off guard is review suppression. The rule prohibits using unfounded or groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation, or certain false public accusations to prevent or remove a negative consumer review. It also bars misrepresenting that the reviews shown on your own site represent all or most of those submitted when reviews have been suppressed by rating or sentiment. Civil penalties are available against knowing violators. The scary letter to a customer who left two stars is now the conduct the rule describes.
What to do with a review you want gone
Route it through policy rather than pressure. Every major platform publishes the reasons it removes content, and the case that works is the one that names the written rule the review breaks and shows the record behind it. A review from a real customer describing a real experience is not removable on any platform, by any service, and the offers that suggest otherwise are selling you exposure.
Audit your paperwork on the same pass. Pull every form contract you use, including website terms, purchase agreements, service contracts, receipts, and app end-user agreements, search each for language about reviews, ratings, testimonials, and disparagement, strike what the CRFA voids, and keep the dated version history.
If you have a specific review in mind and want to know which side of the line it sits on, the legal guide on removing Google reviews walks through the removable categories and the ones that are not, and how to remove fake Google reviews covers the reporting mechanics.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Consumer Review Fairness Act do?
It voids three kinds of provision in form contracts, being those that restrict a customer's review, those that penalize a customer for writing one, and those that require the customer to hand over intellectual property rights in it. The clauses are void from the inception of the contract, and offering a contract containing one is unlawful. The FTC and state attorneys general enforce it.
Is it illegal for a business to delete bad reviews?
On a website you own, 15 U.S.C. 45b preserves your right to remove content that fits the categories the statute lists, such as content containing someone's personal information, obscene content, off-topic content, or content that is clearly false or misleading. Selectively hiding negative reviews while presenting the rest as complete is what the FTC's 2024 rule prohibits. On Google or Yelp you cannot delete anything yourself, since only the platform can remove a review. Ask a lawyer about your own situation.
Does the Consumer Review Fairness Act apply to employees?
No. The statute's definition of a form contract expressly excludes employer-employee and independent contractor contracts. A non-disparagement clause in an employment agreement is governed by other law rather than the CRFA.
Can I ask a customer to take down a review?
Asking is not penalizing, and plenty of businesses resolve a complaint and get a review updated voluntarily. Offering money or a discount conditioned on removing or changing a review runs into the FTC's 2024 rule and into platform policy, and an unfounded legal threat aimed at getting the review removed is prohibited conduct under that rule.
Who enforces the Consumer Review Fairness Act?
The FTC treats a violation as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice, which brings its full enforcement powers and financial penalties into play. State attorneys general can also sue on behalf of residents, after notifying the FTC, and the FTC can intervene in those cases.
Can a consumer sue under the Consumer Review Fairness Act?
The statute assigns enforcement to the FTC and to state attorneys general rather than creating a damages action for individuals. Its practical value to a consumer is that the offending clause is void from the start, which matters if a business tries to rely on it. A lawyer can tell you what that means for your case.