DMCC Act Fines Now Enforceable — What CMA Investigations Mean for UK Tradespeople
What happened
The CMA's first fake review investigations under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act are now fully underway. Five businesses — including Autotrader, Feefo, Just Eat, Dignity, and Pasta Evangelists — face formal investigations into fake and misleading reviews, with outcomes expected by September 2026.
Crucially, the three-month grace period that followed the Act's April 2026 enforcement date has now ended. The CMA can impose fines of up to 10% of annual global turnover for businesses found to be commissioning, incentivising, or hosting fake reviews. 54 businesses have already received formal warnings after the CMA found more than half failed to comply during its initial sweep.
Legal analysts at techUK and Charles Russell Speechlys note this represents a significant shift from warnings to active enforcement — the CMA is now building case law that will set precedents for all UK businesses.
What this means for tradespeople
The current investigations target large companies, not individual tradespeople. But the legal framework applies equally to a sole trader electrician as it does to Autotrader.
If you've ever offered a discount for a review, asked a mate to leave a five-star rating, or used a review-swapping group on Facebook, you're technically in breach of the DMCC Act. The CMA's enforcement against big names is designed to establish precedents — and those precedents will make it easier to act against smaller businesses later.
Google is running its own parallel crackdown. Reviews from incentive schemes, kiosks, and staff-name-mention requests are being removed at record rates. A tradesperson who built their review count through shortcuts could see those reviews vanish overnight — with no legal recourse.
What to do about it
The safest position is simple: only collect reviews from real customers who had a genuine experience with your business, and never offer anything in exchange.
Send a review request after every completed job — via WhatsApp or SMS, where open rates are highest — and make it easy for the customer to leave honest feedback. That's compliant with both Google's policies and the DMCC Act.
Source: Herbert Smith Freehills