The Polish competition authority found that R4E and entrepreneur Paweł Gil supplied fake online reviews. The authority said such reviews can mislead consumers about the quality of products, services or sellers, while disadvantaging businesses that compete fairly.

R4E offered review packages for Google business profiles through reviewagency.eu. According to information from its clients, reviewers drafted comments and sent them to clients for approval before publication. The authority found that R4E staff did not test the products or use the services they reviewed. The reviews were intended to improve businesses’ ratings and visibility in search results. The authority fined R4E PLN 70,000 and imposed separate PLN 25,000 fines on its management board president, Dobromir Kapela, and board member Anna Kapela. It also found that the practice had ceased after the service closed.

Paweł Gil offered services through bow24.pl, including adding followers to Facebook pages and publishing reviews on Google and more than 20 other platforms, including Znany Lekarz, Ceneo, GoWork and Tripadvisor. The authority fined him PLN 102,000, ordered him to stop the practice and required him to publish a statement about the decision on his website.

The decisions are not final, and the businesses may appeal to court. The authority also reminded online retailers of obligations under the EU Omnibus Directive, introduced in 2023: retailers must explain whether and how they verify review authenticity, disclose whether they display all reviews, including negative ones, and must not claim reviews come from genuine customers without prior verification.