The FTC is ready to crack down on fake reviews [Video]

As someone who reviews tech products for a living, I have an entirely justified hatred for fake reviews. And fake reviews are an increasingly serious problem as they imbue product listings with unearned trust, tricking consumers and gaming search results.

The US Federal Trade Commission is preparing to bring the hammer down on fake and otherwise less-than-100-percent-honest reviews, on big stores like Amazon, social media, and even self-hosted online stores run by companies for their own products.

The FTC has now finalized its federal rules banning fake reviews online, with the Commission voting unanimously to adopt the standards it’s been working on for almost two years. It’ll officially go into effect, with regulatory power in the US, sixty days after it’s published in the Federal Register. That should make it active sometime later this year.

You can read the full text in the FTC’s announcement, but here are some of the notable updated rules, summarized by PCWorld:

No reviews or testimonials from people who don’t exist.That means …