A Federal Trade Commission settlement this month with the Bountiful Co., a marketer of vitamins and supplements, was less significant for its monetary amount than for signaling the agency’s push into a new enforcement realm known as “review hijacking.”
The $600,000 settlement with the Bohemia, New York-based Nestle subsidiary is the FTC’s first case alleging review hijacking—a tactic in which online sellers “hijack” an existing product page populated with positive reviews and add into it a different product.
