What Singapore’s crackdown reveals about those 5-star online reviews - South China Morning Post

Jean Iauin SingaporePublished: 9:30am, 2 Oct 2026Updated: 4:28pm, 2 Oct 2026Singapore’s biggest crackdown so far on fake online reviews has exposed how businesses exploit the appeal of five-star ratings to game the system, with experts warning generative AI will make fake reviews more rampant and consumers need to be more discerning about what they read online.The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) has taken action against 45 companies – including a funeral parlour, a law firm and an aesthetics clinic – after finding they bought reviews from a provider whose services included AI-generated testimonials resembling real customer experiences.

The companies had to take down the reviews and publish a public apology for six months as part of the first phase of investigations. About 100 companies were involved.

Alton Chua, an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, said online review ecosystems were constantly evolving.