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Definition

Review gating

A prohibited practice of selectively asking only satisfied customers to leave public reviews while routing dissatisfied customers away from public review platforms.

Review gating refers to any system that filters customers by their rating before deciding whether to ask them for a public review. The classic example: a business sends a customer a survey, and only those who rate 4+ stars are then prompted to leave a Google review. Customers who rate lower are diverted to a private feedback form — and never given the option to leave a public review.

In October 2024, the FTC finalized the Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 CFR Part 465), explicitly prohibiting the suppression of negative reviews and the practice of selectively soliciting positive ones. Penalties run up to $53,088 per violation. Fashion Nova paid $4.2M in 2022 for a related practice.

Google's own review policies have prohibited review gating since 2018. Birdeye and Podium publicly attack the practice in their marketing materials. BrightLocal explicitly refuses to do gating and says so in their help docs.

The defensible alternative is review routing — every customer is invited to leave a public review on the platform of their choice, and unhappy customers are additionally offered a private feedback option as a choice, not a filter.

FAQ

People also ask about review gating

How do I know if a tool does review gating?

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Look at the customer-facing flow. If a customer who rates 1-3 stars is sent to a feedback form *instead of* the public-review options (rather than *in addition to*), that's gating. If lower ratings are blocked from the public-review path, that's gating.

What are the penalties for review gating?

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Up to $53,088 per violation under the FTC's 16 CFR Part 465 rule. Google may also remove your business profile from their search results.

See also

Related terms

Review routing

A review collection method where customers are invited to leave a public review on the platform of their choice (Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.) — and unhappy customers are also offered a private feedback channel as an alternative they can opt into.

Online reputation management

The practice of monitoring, influencing, and responding to what's said about a business across review sites, social media, and search results.

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