Just Eat, Autotrader Investigated by U.K. Competition Watchdog Over Online Reviews

By Edith Hancock

The U.K.'s competition watchdog is investigating five companies including Just Eat, Autotrader and Pasta Evangelists as part of a crackdown on online reviews.

The Competition and Markets Authority said Friday that it is looking into whether the groups--which range from providing review-management software to managing funeral services--breached U.K. consumer law by having staff write positive reviews, failing to publish one-star ratings and inflating review ratings of some companies' services.

The regulator said it is investigating concerns that some one‑star reviews left on Autotrader and moderated by software provider Feefo weren't published on the car marketplace's platform or counted toward star ratings. Autotrader said it tries to operate as a responsible business and would cooperate fully with the CMA's investigation. Feefo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The CMA also said it is checking whether funeral group Dignity asked staff to write positive reviews about some of its services.

"We take the CMA's concerns extremely seriously and are fully cooperating with its investigation relating to the Crematorium and Memorial Group (CMG), a business division within our group," a Dignity spokesperson said.

The regulator is also investigating Just Eat's rating system to determine whether it inflated some restaurants' and grocers' star ratings, and whether Barilla-owned Pasta Evangelists' customers were offered discounts on future orders in exchange for leaving five-star reviews.

Pasta Evangelists said it takes the integrity and transparency of customer reviews extremely seriously. "We are cooperating fully with the CMA as it works to understand the facts and the CMA has itself made clear that no conclusions have been reached," a spokesperson said.

A Just Eat spokesperson said the company is working closely with the regulator to ensure its reviews and ratings are clear, transparent and easy to use.

"With household budgets under pressure, people need to know they're getting genuine information--not reviews or star-ratings that have been manipulated to push them towards the wrong choice," Sarah Cardell, the CMA's chief executive, said.

The probes come as the CMA begins to wield new consumer protection powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, a new law that as of April 2025 made practices such as obtaining and posting fake reviews illegal in the U.K. The watchdog said it is now investigating 14 companies under its consumer protection powers.

"We've given businesses the time to get things right," Cardell said. "Now we're deploying our new powers to tackle some of the most harmful practices head on."

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2026 06:41 ET (10:41 GMT)