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The FTC's testimonial rule, explained for real-estate agents
In 2024 the Federal Trade Commission finalized a rule on consumer reviews and testimonials — 16 CFR Part 465 — and it changed the ground rules for anyone who publishes client feedback, real-estate agents included. Here's the plain-language version. (This is general information, not legal advice; for your own situation, talk to your attorney.)
What it prohibits
The centerpiece is a ban on fake reviews: testimonials from people who don't exist, who never used the service, or whose experience is materially misrepresented. That includes AI-generated reviews and reviews written by your team under invented names. Buying fake reviews, and knowingly reselling or procuring them, are all covered — with civil penalties calculated per violation.
The rule also prohibits misrepresenting that the reviews you display represent all or most of the reviews you've received, when you've suppressed the negative ones. In other words: silently deleting the three-star reviews and presenting the remainder as your record is exactly the pattern regulators are now equipped to punish.
What it still allows
Publishing genuine, consented testimonials is fine. Choosing which testimonials to feature is fine — as long as the presentation doesn't imply they're the complete record, and any score or aggregate you show reflects the real distribution. Asking happy clients to review you is fine. What you can't do is manufacture, edit, or launder the record.
The safe pattern: an aggregate computed from everything, quotes published by explicit consent, disclosure that says exactly which is which.
What this means in practice
Three habits keep an agent on the right side of the line. First, never edit a client's words — feature or don't feature, but don't trim. Second, keep provenance: know who said what, when, and that they agreed to publication. Third, if you display a score, make it the honest average of everything you've collected — and say so where the reader can see it.
These aren't burdens; they're the exact things that make feedback persuasive. EarnedRep bakes all three into the mechanism — consent recorded with a timestamp, quotes locked against editing, and a rating computed from every response — so following the rule isn't a compliance chore. It's just how the product works.