Is Buying Google Reviews Illegal in the Australia?

Fake reviews have been a grey area for years, but the Australia's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 changed that. The Act makes it a specific offence to publish or commission reviews that don't reflect a genuine experience with a business.

That means buying reviews from accounts with no connection to your business isn't just risky for your Google listing, it can expose you to real legal and financial consequences. The Competition and Markets Authority has already signalled it will actively enforce the rule.

The good news is that the safe route and the effective route are the same route: ask your real customers for their honest feedback. Reviews collected this way are fully compliant, and because they come from genuine transactions, they tend to stick around far longer than anything bought from a stranger.