Review gating is now an FTC problem

You've probably seen the funnel. A text goes out after the job: "How did we do?" Tap a happy face and you're sent to Google. Tap a sad face and you get a private feedback form.

That's review gating. For years it was sold as smart reputation management, and plenty of tools still offer it. If you use it, you should know where it stands, because it's riskier than the sales page says.

What the FTC actually says

We want to be precise here, because plenty of articles aren't.

The guidance is direct. The FTC's guide for marketers, published in January 2022, says this: "Don't ask for reviews only from customers you think will leave positive ones."

The newer rule doesn't ban it by name, but it doesn't clear it either. The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule took effect on October 21, 2024. The FTC's own questions and answers ask whether a business can seek reviews only from customers it thinks are happy. The answer: "The rule does not contain a specific prohibition against such conduct. But this practice could violate the FTC Act."

So gating isn't a named violation of the 2024 rule. It's a practice the FTC has warned about in writing, and says could be illegal under its main law. That's why we call it an FTC problem, and not a settled offense.

The rule does ban things gating tools often sit next to. It covers fake reviews, incentives conditioned on a positive or negative review, and suppressing reviews through threats, intimidation or false accusations. It also limits presenting the reviews on your own site as complete when you've held back the bad ones. Courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations.

Why it's more than a technicality

Fashion Nova. In January 2022, the online retailer agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle FTC allegations. The FTC said it presented its site's reviews as reflecting all buyers, while hundreds of thousands of reviews under four stars were never posted. That's not the happy-face funnel exactly, but the logic is the same: a filtered picture presented as the whole picture.

The warning letters. In December 2025, the FTC sent warning letters to 10 companies about possible violations of the rule, including review suppression. The letters aren't findings of wrongdoing, but they show the agency is paying attention. At least one law firm summary also notes the FTC's position that companies can answer for what third parties do on their behalf. "My software vendor set it up" may not help you.

Google is blunter, and probably matters more

For a local business, the FTC isn't the most likely trouble. Google is.

Google's policy says merchants shouldn't discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive ones. It also says not to offer incentives for reviews, and not to pressure customers to review you while they're on your premises.

If Google decides you've broken its fake engagement rules, it can remove reviews and place restrictions on your Business Profile. For a business that lives on local search, that's the part that would really hurt.

Why you don't need it anyway

Gating is built on a fear that a few bad reviews will sink you. The data points somewhere else.

That's from BrightLocal's 2026 survey of US consumers. It's about having enough reviews, not perfect ones. The same survey found:

• Fresh beats flawless. 74% only care about reviews written in the last three months.
• You don't need five stars. 68% will only use a business rated four stars or above, and 31% want 4.5 or above. That leaves a lot of room for an honest bad review or two.
• Replies count. 89% expect owners to respond to reviews, and 80% say they're likely to use a business that responds to all of them.
• Canned replies backfire. Generic or templated replies put off 50%.

So what gets you more customers is a steady flow of recent reviews and real replies to them. Asking everyone gives you more volume than asking some. And a business with nothing but five-star reviews can look suspicious anyway.

The loop that works instead

Here's what we build, and what you can set up by hand tomorrow.

1. Ask everyone. Trigger the request from the job being marked complete, not from how the customer seems. Same message, same link, same timing, for every customer.
2. Don't screen first. If you want private feedback too, that's fine, but it can't decide who sees the public link. Everyone gets both options, on the same screen.
3. Skip incentives. The FTC allows some incentives if they don't depend on sentiment. Google says don't offer them at all. The simple answer is none.
4. Don't apply pressure. No hovering with a tablet at the end of the job, and no review quotas for staff.
5. Reply to every review. Do it within a few days, and reply to the bad ones first. Draft with AI if you like, but have a person approve it and make it specific.
6. Fix what the bad reviews tell you. It's the cheapest market research you'll get.
7. Don't try to silence anyone. No legal threats. No "no negative reviews" clause in your contract: the Consumer Review Fairness Act makes those void in form contracts.
8. Label insiders. Reviews from staff or family need disclosure. Better still, don't ask them.

Audit your current tool today

This takes ten minutes:

1. Send yourself a review request, exactly as a customer would get it.
2. Tap the lowest rating. Can you still reach the public review link?
3. If you can't, turn that setting off. If you can't find the setting, ask your vendor in writing.
4. Check your website's review widget. Does it hide low ratings while implying it shows them all?
5. Search your contract templates for anything restricting reviews.

If you find something, fix it and move on. This is one to run past your lawyer if you've used a funnel for a long time.

Our 5-Star Reputation and Referral Loop asks every customer the same way, drafts replies for you to approve, and has no gating setting to switch on. Fix the boring thing first.