If you're a UK business owner asking whether it's legal to buy reviews, the honest answer is: it depends entirely on where those reviews come from. Since April 2025, the UK has had one of the clearest, strictest laws in the world on this exact question — and most businesses still don't fully understand it. This guide breaks down the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 in plain English, so you know exactly where the line sits before you spend a penny on review growth.
What Is the DMCC Act 2024?
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 — usually shortened to the DMCC Act — is a UK law that overhauled consumer protection rules across the board, from pricing to subscriptions to online reviews. The consumer protection provisions, including everything relating to fake reviews, came into force on 6 April 2025.
Before this, fake reviews sat under older, vaguer regulations that were harder to enforce. The DMCC Act changed that by placing fake reviews directly into what's called Schedule 20 — a list of 32 commercial practices treated as automatically unfair, with no need to prove a fake review actually misled anyone. If it happened, it's a breach. That single change is exactly why Omni Reviews exists. If you want to buy Google reviews, we make sure every single one comes from someone who actually used your business.
What Does the DMCC Act Actually Ban?
Under Schedule 20, paragraph 13, it's illegal to:
- Submit, or pay someone else to submit, a fake consumer review — one that claims to reflect genuine experience but doesn't
- Commission reviews from people who never actually used the product or service
- Publish a review that conceals the fact it was incentivised (a discount, freebie, or payment in exchange for a review)
- Suppress or hide genuine negative reviews to manipulate an overall rating
A "fake consumer review" is defined precisely: one that purports to be based on real experience but isn't. This covers written reviews, star ratings, and even aggregated review data like rankings or "top rated" badges. This is the core of fake review law UK businesses now operate under, as set out in the CMA's official CMA208 guidance.
There's also a duty on any business that publishes reviews — not just the businesses being reviewed — to take reasonable, proportionate steps to detect and remove fake ones. In other words, ignorance isn't automatically a defence, and this is a key part of UK consumer protection reviews rules.
What Does the DMCC Act Allow?
This is the part most guides skip. The DMCC Act does not ban businesses from asking for reviews. It doesn't ban review services. It doesn't ban growing your review count quickly. What it bans is fakery — reviews from people who never used your business.
So the honest answer to is it legal to buy reviews UK businesses ask about is: yes, if what you're actually paying for is a service that requests honest feedback from your own real, verified customers. That's not manipulation — that's just making it easier for genuine customers to leave a review they'd have left anyway. Want the same thing on Yelp? Just reach out to Omni Reviews — we help UK businesses get Authentic Yelp Reviews UK using this exact verified-customer method.
The problem is that most review sellers online don't work this way. They sell reviews from paid, unrelated accounts — people with no connection to your business at all. That's precisely the practice the DMCC Act was built to stop.
How the CMA Enforces This Law
The Competition and Markets Authority is the regulator responsible for enforcing the DMCC Act, and it now has real teeth. The CMA can fine a business up to £300,000 or 10% of its global annual turnover, whichever is higher — without needing to go to court first. It can also issue infringement notices, order businesses to change their practices, and require compensation for affected customers.
After the law came into force, the CMA gave businesses a short grace period to get compliant, followed by an online sweep of review platforms and the launch of formal investigations. That focus hasn't slowed down — the CMA has been explicit that fake reviews remain a top enforcement priority precisely because the law here is unambiguous. We go deeper into exactly how these investigations play out, and what triggers CMA attention in the first place, in our companion piece on how the CMA enforces this law.
Where Verified Customer Reviews Fit In
This is why the concept of a verified customer matters so much under the new rules. A review from someone who genuinely bought, booked, or used your service carries none of the legal risk that a paid, unrelated review does — because it isn't fake by definition. It reflects a real transaction and a real opinion.
That distinction is the entire basis of how Omni Reviews operates, and it's also exactly why genuine reviews carry so much less business risk long-term than any paid-account shortcut. It's worth understanding just how much safer this approach is in practice, which we cover in more detail in why genuine reviews avoid this risk entirely.
What This Means If You Want More Google Reviews
If your goal is simply to grow your review count — starting with your Google Business Profile — the DMCC Act doesn't stand in your way. It only rules out the fake-account route. Businesses can still legally buy Google reviews the compliant way: by paying for a service that reaches out to real customers and invites them to share their honest experience, rather than manufacturing reviews from strangers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it illegal to ask customers for reviews?
No. Asking genuine customers for honest feedback is completely legal and, in fact, encouraged. The DMCC Act only prohibits reviews that aren't based on real experience.
Can I be fined for reviews I didn't write myself?
Potentially, yes. Businesses that publish reviews have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent and remove fake ones, even if a third party posted them.
What counts as an "incentivised" review under the DMCC Act?
Any review offered in exchange for a discount, freebie, or payment, where that incentive isn't clearly disclosed to readers.
Does this law only apply to big companies?
No. The DMCC Act applies to any UK business that collects, buys, or publishes consumer reviews, regardless of size.
For more detail on how this applies to your specific situation, read our FAQ for answers to the most common compliance questions we get asked.
Final Words
The DMCC Act didn't ban buying reviews — it banned buying fake ones. That's a meaningful difference, and it's one most review-selling websites conveniently avoid explaining. Omni Reviews only ever requests reviews from your real customers, keeping you fully compliant from day one. If you want to legally buy Google reviews the way the law actually allows, Contact with omni reviews .
