Writing fake reviews is a crime, here's when and what you risk

Online reviews are a very useful tool for all consumers, increasing and making even more effective the traditional word of mouth which often guides choices regarding purchases and expenses.
Even for those who offer services or products, reviews represent a very useful mechanism, as they allow you to advertise your business without particular investment costs, counting on the quality and functionality of your offer.
Negative reviews are equally functional for users, much less so for sellers, who are also profoundly damaged.
Obviously, this is part of the underlying mechanism of reviews, which must be truthful and respect the opinions and personal experience of the user.
When the reviews are false, however, the damage caused to the business is unfair, so much so that it can constitute the crime of defamation.
If the fake reviews are positive, this problem does not arise, but there could be an incorrect marketing strategy to the detriment of consumers and the crime of fraud could even be contested.
In short, a "trivial" review can cost you very dearly.
Here's what the law provides.
When a false review is a crime As anticipated, the main crimes that can be integrated with false reviews are defamation and fraud.
Everything changes depending on the content and purpose of the review itself.
To better understand the legislation, it is necessary to divide the crimes involving false reviews into those against consumers and those against sellers or service providers.
This is an inevitable generalization that refers to the main and most evidently detectable damages, also because every crime by definition damages the entire community.
Among the crimes against sellers and similar, defamation is undoubtedly the most common.
It is important to underline that for the purposes of committing the crime it is not important that the experience recounted is in fact false, but rather that it goes beyond the personal story and comment to denigrate the personal or professional reputation of the interested parties.
On the other hand, custom dictates that reviews are more open to negative tones and content, with criticisms that the service or product provider must take into account from the moment they start a business.
In fact, reviews fulfill a critical task and are protected by this right, as long as they are true and relevant, with appropriate language and tone.
It is therefore not the offenses in and of themselves that are relevant, but rather the difference between critical judgment and verbal aggression.
Personal attacks are therefore not allowed, nor are openly denigrating comments.
read also Fake reviews on Amazon: what you risk and how to recognize them.
As for crimes against consumers, however, fraud is particularly notable.
Creating (or paying for) fraudulent content is a clear deception to the detriment of consumers, regardless of the tone used and the content of the review.
Whoever writes them, however, can be accused of impersonation.
In these cases, therefore, there is no doubt that the behavior constitutes a crime, obviously committed by the person writing and/or commissioning it.
read also Fraud: sanctions and protections What do you risk? Defamation is punished with imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of up to 1,032 euros, but the penalties increase if there are aggravating circumstances such as the attribution of a specific fact (imprisonment of up to 2 years or a fine of up to 2,065 euros) or means of advertising (imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years or a fine of no less than 516 euros).
Much worse for fraud, punished with imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years and a fine from 51 to 1,032 euros.
Even in this case the aggravating circumstances can increase the sentence.
Substitution of a person, however, is punished with imprisonment of up to 1 year.
Possible sanctions by Agcom for unfair competition and any compensation claims by the injured parties must also be considered.
read also Can you report someone who speaks badly about you?