Irvine attorney uses new FTC regulations to sue TikTok-er for fake reviews

An Irvine attorney, who says he is the target of a coordinated review-bombing attack on his Yelp and Google profiles, has become one of the first to file actions under a new FTC regulation. The rule prohibits fake or false online consumer reviews from individuals who have not had a genuine experience with the related service, the attorney stated on Friday.

James R. Stout, of Stout Law Firm LLP, filed a federal lawsuit pro se on Thursday against a TikTok creator known as "LaurenSays5" and others he says were never his clients but left scathing and threatening reviews on his firm's Yelp profile. Stout claims that "Lauren" orchestrated the coordinated attack on his profile in retaliation for his social media presence and political views. Stout Law Firm LLP et al. v. LAURENSAYS 5 et al., 8:25-cv-00126 (C.D. Cal., filed Jan. 23, 2025).

He cited 16 CFR, Part 465 of the Code of Federal Regulations as the primary basis for his lawsuit. This FTC rule, known as the Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, was implemented in October and prohibits unfair or deceptive practices involving artificially generated online consumer reviews or endorsements. It also empowers the agency to penalize violators with fines of up to $51,744 per incident.

"It was designed primarily for businesses who pay for fake reviews, and defined fake reviews as anyone who is paid to make a review or didn't have any experience with the business," Stout said in a phone interview Friday. "If you don't have experience, then you're lying. There was no specific law on that before this one. So, this is the first case, that I know ... where you can't review-bomb because you didn't have an experience. That'd be a federal violation."

A private message seeking comment was sent to a "LaurenSays5" TikTok account by the Daily Journal on Friday. However, an automated response read: "The message couldn't be sent due to receiver's settings. We will resend the message once they update their permission."

Stout, who practices family law and said he's known on social media by his followers as "The Devil's Advocate," made legal educational videos and entertainment skits on now-deactivated accounts - including TikTok - and often made counter arguments to various political topics.

"I don't have a political position ... I got review-bombed after this thing called the '4B movement,'" Stout said. The movement, according to Stout, "was like a protest against men" who voted for President Donald Trump and involved the women members of the group shaving their heads and vowing not to have sex with men who voted for Trump.

"So, I said, 'Well, if American women shave their heads and swear off men, that'll make room for Thai women and Filipino women.' They didn't appreciate that comment ... and coordinated review-bombs on my Google account in December," Stout said. "I said some other things, but the one that made them the angriest was when I said, 'I am the devil,' because I would go by my nickname. So that infuriated [Lauren] and she coordinated this attack on my Yelp page."

In the complaint, Stout attached screenshots of the scathing one-star reviews that were left on his firm's Yelp page, which accused him of being a misogynist and a troll. One comment insinuated that the user knew where Stout lived and threatened to "visit" him.

"'Lauren' is criminally responsible for that threat, which is a felony under federal law," Stout wrote in the complaint.

The reviews are still viewable on the firm's profile. However, the negative reviews at the heart of the complaint are filtered under "reviews for Stout Law Firm that are not currently recommended."

The most recent one-star review was posted on Thursday.

In addition to Thursday's lawsuit, Stout said he previously filed a separate complaint against review-bombers who went after his Google business profile last year. The defendant in that case is also a defendant in the new lawsuit. However, the full identities of the reviewers - or if they are robot accounts - are unknown to him at this time, Stout said. Stout Law Firm LLP et al. v. Taulli et al., 8:24-cv-02801 (C.D. Cal., filed Dec. 28, 2024).