FTC requires Fashion Nova to pay $4.2 million for suppressing negative reviews

• Fashion Nova denied the allegations calling them "inaccurate and deceptive," in a statement given to Axios.

Details: Fashion Nova used a third-party software to withhold lower-starred reviews for the company's approval while automatically posting four and five-star reviews, according to the complaint.

• From late-2015 to 2019, Fashion Nova never approved or posted the lower-starred reviews, according to the complaint.

Context: Fashion Nova previously settled with the FTC in April of 2020 for failing to notify customers to cancel their orders when they failed to ship products " in a timely manner" per the press release.

What they're saying: “Deceptive review practices cheat consumers, undercut honest businesses, and pollute online commerce,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The big picture: The FTC also announced that it is sending letters to 10 companies that offer review management services, notifying them that not collecting or publishing negative reviews violates the FTC Act, according to the agency's statement.