The International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), a network of consumer protection authorities from nearly 60 countries, has today published three sets of guidelines on online reviews and endorsements for review administrators, traders and marketers, and digital influencers.

Consumers are increasingly using opinions in online reviews, articles and blogs to help them decide where to go on holiday, which restaurants to visit, or which products or services to buy. Consumer protection agencies across the world have been taking action to help build trust in these valuable tools and prevent the use of misleading or fake reviews and endorsements.

These guidelines provide simple dos and don’ts for review sites, traders and marketing businesses, and digital influencers, such as bloggers and vloggers. For digital influencers the guidelines are as follows:

- Disclose clearly and prominently whether content has been paid for

- Be open about other commercial relationships that might be relevant to the content

- Give genuine views on markets, businesses, goods or services.

This guide is part of a wider set of materials in relation to online reviews and endorsements.