Consumer protection watchdog the Commerce Commission is taking legal action against Top Reviews and Auckland Magazine over allegations that they are improperly presenting online reviews and rankings as impartial.

The commission claims the rankings are created after the sites approach New Zealand businesses and promise a favourable ranking.

The nation’s High Court has been asked to stop the allegedly misleading content while the commission pursues orders that could block access to the websites if the conduct continues.

“Small businesses shouldn’t be misled into paying for favourable online rankings or feel pressured to pay because they believe their competitors are doing the same,” said deputy chair Anne Callinan.

“If a website says its rankings are independent, businesses and consumers should be able to take that at face value. Payment shouldn’t be influencing who ranks highly without that being made clear.”

Both of the accused sites often rank businesses in “Top 10” lists for a particular category, with the impression of them being written by staff writers. The commission claims they come with the suggestion that they are the product of honest and impartial reviews.

“Some local businesses have told us they weren’t aware they were featured on these websites, and some of the information about them was inaccurate,” Callinan added.

“The websites have also suggested their writers had spoken to customers or used the goods and services they were reviewing when that wasn’t the case.”

An investigation found that the websites are operated from overseas.

“Consumers need to know whether a ranking is genuinely independent or commercially influenced. And businesses need to have confidence they’re competing on a level playing field, rather than being pushed to pay to keep up,” Callinan said.