FTC Announces Action Against Company for Alleged Unsubstantiated Claims and Fake Social Media Profiles

On April 13, 2026, the FTC announced that a company and its two principals agreed to settle  Federal Trade Commission’s charges that they deceptively advertised the effectiveness of a range of supplements touted as supporting height growth in children and teenagers, and allegedly relied on reviews that were written by their own employees and vendors, or by consumers who were offered a free product or discount in return for writing a 5-star review.

“The law is clear: you must have competent and reliable scientific evidence to support health claims about your products or services, said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection. “[The company] not only made unsubstantiated claims about its products’ capacity to boost height growth in children and teenagers but also amplified those claims with fake and incentivized reviews.”

According to the FTC, the company has been selling supplements that purport to boost height growth in children and teenagers since at least 2020.  Using social media, search engine ads, email campaigns, and the company’s website, the company purportedly made claims including “Help your child grow taller! Pure Ingredients, Real Results” and “The Only Supplement Clinically Proven to Help Height Growth,” to promote its products.

According to the FTC’s complaint, however, these claims were unsubstantiated because the company lacked the competent and reliable scientific evidence required to back up the height-based growth claims it made.  The company’s purported “clinical evidence,” according to the FTC, consisted only of a single, company-sponsored study of 32 subjects — a study that showed no meaningful differences between the treatment and control groups

To further induce consumers to buy its products, the company  also published fake positive consumer reviews.

Until at least November 2024, the FTC alleges, the company website contained several thousand five-star reviews that were purportedly written by customers but were actually written by company employees.  The company also allegedly offered consumers free and discounted products in exchange for leaving 5-star reviews on its own website and on third-party platforms.

Finally, the complaint alleges the company used fake social media profiles that, while masquerading as belonging to real, existing users, were in reality run by automated bots.  These fake profiles were allegedly used to post software-generated comments on the company’s  Facebook and Instagram pages.  Based on this conduct, the complaint charges the company  violated the FTC Act and the FTC Reviews and Testimonials Rule.

The proposed administrative order resolving the FTC’s complaint imposes a $4 million judgment on the company and its principals, which will be partially suspended based on respondents’ inability to pay the full amount.

The proposed order also:

• prohibits respondents from making false or unsubstantiated height and growth claims;
• bans respondents from making any claims about the health benefits, performance, efficacy, safety, or side effects of any product covered by the order, unless the claim is not misleading and is supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence;
• prohibits the company from misrepresenting: 1) that a reviewer exists, 2) that a reviewer used the product, service, or business being reviewed, or 3) the reviewer’s experience with the product, service, or business being reviewed; and
• prohibits the company from buying consumer reviews conditioned on a particular sentiment – whether positive or negative – about the product being reviewed.

The Commission vote for the administrative complaint and consent agreement was 2-0.  FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson joined by Commissioner Mark R. Meador issued a separate statement.

The FTC will publish a description of the consent agreement package in the Federal Register soon.  The agreement will be subject to public comment, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent order final.

Takeaway: Know that unsubstantiated health claims are prohibited by Section 5 of the FTC Act. Ensure that your health claims are based on competent and reliable evidence. Match your claims to your evidence. Overstating or exaggerating how well a product or service performs can mislead your customers, damage your reputation, and hurt competitors who play by the rules. And health claims in particular must be supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. The FTC website has guidance on how you can tell if your advertising is likely to mislead people. Be transparent about reviews and testimonials. Potential customers rely on reviews and testimonials to learn how your product or service worked for others. They also want to know if the review is genuine and comes from an unbiased consumer, because these factors may affect how much weight they give the review. If a review is written or created by your own employee, a vendor, a paid endorser, or another person with ties to your company, make that clear.

Richard B. Newman is a digital advertising compliance and defense attorney at Hinch Newman LLP. 

Informational purposes only. Not legal advice. This article is not intended to and should not be construed as legal advice. May be considered attorney advertising.