AI-Written Reviews and Endorsements: What Singapore Rules Say

Is it legal to use AI-written reviews in Singapore?

Not if the review is presented as a real customer's experience when it isn't. The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA) makes it an unfair practice for a supplier to do or say anything that might reasonably deceive or mislead a consumer, or to make a false claim, as CCS's consumer protection FAQ sets out. A made-up review, whoever or whatever wrote it, tells shoppers that a real person had that experience.

CCS's page on dark patterns names fake reviews directly, giving the examples of businesses posing as customers to post 5-star reviews and deleting negative reviews from genuine customers.

What CCS found in the AI fake review cases

Two cases show how CCS looks at AI-written reviews. Both ended with the businesses giving undertakings to CCS.

In the September 2026 release, CCS said the provider's dashboard could even draw on a business's existing 4 and 5-star Google reviews to generate new ones, and that clients could edit the AI text before it was posted. The apology has to appear on the business's website, official social media accounts and at its premises. CCS also published the list of businesses and said a second phase is looking at other buyers.

The July 2025 release is the one most SMEs should read: no outside provider was involved. The business itself used ChatGPT to write reviews based on jobs it had actually done, and still ended up in a CCS case because the customers had not written them.

Paid and gifted endorsements: ASAS disclosure rules

Reviews by real people can still mislead if the reader doesn't know they were paid. The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore's Guidelines for Interactive Marketing Communication and Social Media treat paid endorsements and sponsored content, including content paid for in kind with free samples or trips, as paid media.

• Where a connection between the endorser and the brand could affect how much weight people give the endorsement, it must be fully disclosed.
• Disclosures for sponsored content should be clear and prominent, and show that the content was paid for.
• Written content needs a written disclosure; audio and video content need audio or visual disclosures shown long enough to be noticed.
• Unpaid reviews by ordinary customers count as earned media and are not marketing communication, as long as nobody was paid.

ASAS is an industry self-regulation body, so its guidelines are not law, but they show what Singapore's advertising industry expects. Our guide to content creator disclosure and media kits covers the creator side.

Google's review rules are stricter than most owners think

Even where a review is not clearly illegal, it can still break the platform's policy and get removed or your profile restricted. Google's fake and misleading content policy for Maps bans:

• Reviews or ratings paid for, directly or in kind.
• Offering payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for posting a review, or for changing or removing a negative one.
• Reviews based on a conflict of interest, including current or former employees, contractors and family.
• Merchants asking staff to collect a set number of reviews.

If competitors are posting fake reviews about you, our guide on removing and reporting fake Google reviews covers the reporting route.

Where AI is safe to use around reviews

AI is useful here, as long as it never pretends to be a customer.

If you quote a customer on your website or in an ad, use their real words with their permission, keep a record of where the quote came from, and don't edit it into something they didn't say. Our guide to AI replies to Google reviews shows how to use AI on the reply side safely.

How to get more genuine reviews without breaking rules

The honest route is slower, but it doesn't put your name on a CCS list.

1. 1

   Ask at the right moment

   Send the request just after a job is finished or an order is delivered, when the customer is most likely to be happy.

2. 2

   Ask everyone, not only happy customers

   Google's policy allows you to encourage reviews as long as you don't try to influence the rating or the content. Send the same request to every customer.

3. 3

   Make it one tap

   Use the review link from your Google Business Profile in an email, receipt or QR code at the counter.

4. 4

   Offer nothing in return

   No discounts, vouchers or lucky draws tied to a review. Google bans them and they make reviews look paid.

5. 5

   Reply to every review

   A short, polite reply to good and bad reviews shows future customers that real people read them.

Do it yourself or get help?

Most of this is a policy decision you can make today: no fake reviews, clear disclosures, and one review request sent to every customer. If you have bought reviews in the past, CCS says businesses that come forward before formal investigations begin will have their cooperation viewed favourably; take legal advice on that step.

Where we can help is the marketing that replaces fake social proof. Our Extra Ad Creative Pack (S$290) turns your own photos and offer into 6 static ad designs with copy variants, checked against platform text and image rules before delivery. If you have permitted quotes from real customers, they can go into the designs; we don't write reviews or invent quotes.