Project FairWeb

Backgrounder

December 13 , 2004

Project FairWeb is the Competition Bureau's first dedicated Internet surveillance and enforcement program aimed at combatting misleading and deceptive advertising found on the Internet.

The Internet is now a vast area of commerce, and as consumers, Canadians shop for products and carry out transactions on a daily basis through the Web. While many businesses promote their products in an honest and forthright manner, the opportunity exists for others to promote products using misleading claims either on their Web sites or through email. Project FairWeb is the Bureau's response to this problem.

Through Project FairWeb, Internet sweeps are conducted on a regular basis to identify potentially problematic sites which are then analysed for misleading content under the misleading representations and deceptive marketing practices provisions of the Competition Act. Notices are then sent to the owners of selected Web sites informing them that certain claims used for the promotion of their products could raise issues under the Act and that they are obliged to have adequate and proper tests available to support such claims. Furthermore, under the general provisions of the Act, such claims must be true.

In most cases, businesses are invited to voluntarily alter their Web sites if they are not in possession of proper tests to support their claims. If compliance is not forthcoming, then the contested route is available whereby we can require, through court or Tribunal proceedings, that a target provide tests to substantiate their product claims.

Launched in April 2004, FairWeb's initial focus was on misleading and unsubstantiated claims relating to bogus weight-loss products. The two-year campaign resulted in the identification of over 485 Web sites containing potentially problematic claims. Of those sites, notices were sent to the most problematic; 73% of those businesses either removed or altered the suspect performance claims on their sites to comply with the Act.

In 2006, the Bureau and Health Canada along with counterpart agencies in the United States and Mexico, announced 177 compliance and enforcement actions against companies promoting bogus and misleading diabetes schemes that cheat Canadians of their time, money and most importantly, their health. The diabetes fraud campaign was the second in the series of collaborative efforts to fight misleading miracle cure claims. Approximately two million Canadians are affected by this serious health condition.

As with the first campaign on weight loss, the diabetes fraud campaign involved a number of methods to deter false and misleading diabetes cure-all advertising including Internet sweeps. As part of this initiative, the Bureau identified over 150 potentially problematic Web sites. Notices were sent to the most problematic sites. Of the Canadian firms contacted, 80% have complied by removing misleading claims. When businesses do not respond to the Bureau's concerns, enforcement action may be considered, including contested court proceedings.