Warning on review edits

SELECTIVELY editing reviews or testimonials has the potential to put companies on the wrong side the law, according to a new guidance for advertisers of regulated health services issued by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

The agency says selectively editing reviews or testimonials has the potential to be false, misleading or deceptive, and therefore in breach of the law.

“For example it is inherently misleading to edit a review that is negative to make it positive, as this falsely presents the feedback,” AHPRA says, adding that it is also misleading to edit a review that has a mix of negative and positive comments “so that the published review only has positive comments”.

It also warns against editting a review “so that it no longer accurately reflects all the reviewer’s feedback and presents an inaccurate or false impression of the reviewer’s views”.

AHPRA recently published a testimonial tool to help advertisers understand what reviews can and cannot be published.

“We’ve since updated the tool to help advertisers get it right when they are moderating reviews or testimonials against the National Law’s advertising requirements,” said AHPRA ceo Martin Fletcher.

“If advertisers edit reviews or testimonials there is a high risk that the edited reviews will become misleading or deceptive,” he said.

“Only publishing complete and unedited reviews that are not testimonials will help advertisers to avoid breaching the National Law.”

Fletcher said reviews that didn’t refer to the clinical aspects of care were not considered testimonials and, therefore, may be allowed.

“But even if the review doesn’t breach the ban on using testimonials to advertise, the advertiser may be breaking the law on misleading and deceptive advertising if the review is misleading,” he said.

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