Misleading Advertising: The Law That Can Fine Your Business $50 Million

Here's an uncomfortable update: the $50 million in the title is already out of date. Since 28 March 2026, the maximum penalty for a company that breaches the Australian Consumer Law is the greater of $100 million, three times the benefit gained, or 30% of turnover. You won't cop the maximum for a dodgy Instagram caption, but the same law that fined Qantas $100 million applies to your cafe, your trade business and your online store — and you can breach it without meaning to.

The one-sentence law that catches everyone

Section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) says a business must not engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive, or is likely to mislead or deceive. That's essentially the whole rule, and three things about it trip people up:

Intent doesn't matter. You can breach s18 honestly, accidentally and in good faith. If your ad creates a false overall impression, you're on the hook — "I didn't realise" is not a defence.
It's about the overall impression, not the fine print. If the headline says "$18 flights" and the small print adds $50 in compulsory fees, the overall impression is misleading. Courts judge your ad the way an ordinary customer skimming it would.
Silence can mislead. Leaving out something important — a compulsory fee, a major condition — can be just as unlawful as saying something false.

Alongside s18, section 29 bans specific false or misleading representations (about price, quality, testimonials, origin, and so on), and that's the section that carries the big penalties.

What a breach can cost you (as at August 2026)

Penalties were already increased in November 2022, then doubled again for conduct from 28 March 2026:

Who	Maximum penalty per breach
Company (conduct on or after 28 March 2026)	Greater of $100 million, 3x the benefit obtained, or 30% of adjusted turnover during the breach period
Company (conduct before 28 March 2026)	Greater of $50 million, 3x the benefit, or 30% of adjusted turnover
Individual (including sole traders)	$2.5 million

Note that "per breach" — a campaign that runs for months can rack up multiple contraventions. Courts scale penalties to the business, so a small operator won't see nine figures, but six-figure penalties against small companies are routine, and as a sole trader those penalties are personal. Check current figures at accc.gov.au.

What you can't mislead about

Pricing: the big one

The ACCC has named misleading pricing claims as an enforcement priority for 2026–27, and it's where small businesses most often come unstuck.

"Was/now" and strikethrough prices. You can only advertise "was $199, now $149" if you genuinely sold at $199 for a reasonable period immediately before the sale. Briefly listing a product at an inflated price so you can "discount" it is a classic breach. The Federal Court's May 2026 finding against Coles over its "Down Down" promotions turned on exactly this: the "was" prices hadn't applied for long enough to make the discounts genuine.
Drip pricing. The advertised price should be the total minimum price. Compulsory fees, surcharges and booking charges revealed at checkout are how Webjet earned a $9 million penalty in 2025.
"Free". Free means free. If the cost is recovered elsewhere (an inflated bundle price, an obligatory purchase), it isn't free.
Two-price displays. If you show a component price, you must also prominently show the single total price.

Country of origin

"Australian made", "Australian owned" and "Product of Australia" each have specific legal meanings. Don't drape your packaging in green and gold, kangaroo logos or "Aussie" branding for imported goods — the overall impression test applies to images just as much as words.

Testimonials and reviews

Fake and manipulated reviews are squarely in the ACCC's sights. A December 2023 ACCC sweep found 37% of businesses reviewed were engaging in concerning conduct around online reviews. The rules in short: testimonials must be genuine, current and from real customers; you must not write your own reviews, pay for fake ones, or edit genuine reviews to sand off the negative bits; and if you offer an incentive for reviews, it must be disclosed and offered regardless of whether the review is positive or negative.

Recent cases: what enforcement actually looks like

All of these are decided cases or court findings drawn from ACCC publications — worth two minutes of your time, because every one involves a mistake a small business could make at smaller scale.

Case	Year	Outcome	The lesson
Qantas ("ghost flights")	2024	$100m penalty + $20m to customers	Sold tickets to flights it had already cancelled. Selling what you can't deliver is misleading conduct.
Webjet	2025	$9m penalty	Advertised "from $18" airfares that excluded compulsory fees of up to $54.90. Advertise the real total price.
Bloomex (online florist)	2024	$1m penalty	Star ratings built on years-old overseas reviews, fake strikethrough discounts, undisclosed surcharges.
Coles ("Down Down")	2026	Liability found; penalty still to be determined	"Was" prices that hadn't applied for a reasonable period made the discounts misleading. A similar case against Woolworths awaits judgment.

Puffery vs claims: the line you can walk

The law allows puffery — exaggeration so obviously over-the-top that nobody would take it literally. What it punishes is claims: statements specific enough that a customer might rely on them.

Puffery (generally fine)	Claim (must be provable)
"The best coffee in town"	"Voted best coffee in Brisbane 2026"
"Unbeatable service"	"24-hour response guaranteed"
"Prices you'll love"	"Cheapest in Australia — we'll beat any quote"
"Amazing results"	"Removes 99% of stains"

The moment your statement includes a number, a comparison, a ranking or anything measurable, it stops being puffery and you need evidence sitting behind it — before you publish, not after the ACCC asks.

Social media and influencer basics

The same rules apply to a TikTok as to a TV ad. If you pay, gift or otherwise incentivise anyone — influencer, customer, your cousin — to promote your business, that commercial relationship must be clearly and prominently disclosed ("#ad" or "Paid partnership", not buried below "see more"). The ACCC's 2023 sweep found 81% of influencers reviewed were making posts that raised concerns, mostly for hidden or unclear sponsorship disclosure, and the business paying for the post can be liable alongside the influencer. Put disclosure obligations in writing when you engage anyone to promote you — our guide to business contracts covers what a simple agreement should include. And if you're doing your own promotion on a shoestring, the tactics in our low-budget marketing ideas don't need any legal gymnastics — genuine content never does.

The traps that catch small businesses specifically

Review gating. Emailing customers "How was it?" and only sending happy customers the Google review link is selective review harvesting — the ACCC treats it as misleading, and it breaches Google's own policies too. Ask everyone or ask no one. (See our Google Business Profile guide for what you can legitimately do to earn reviews.)
Before/after photos. Common in fitness, beauty, cleaning and trades. If the photos are enhanced, staged, atypical or not your own work, they're misleading. Use genuine, representative examples and keep the originals.
"#1 in Australia" and "best-rated" claims. If you can't point to an independent, current source, don't say it. "Australia's most trusted plumber" invented for your homepage is a claim, not puffery.
Old claims left running. The award from 2019, the "20 years' experience" that was true for the founder who's since left, the price on a forgotten landing page. Misleading conduct includes claims that were true once and aren't now.

Your 10-point self-audit

Run this over your website, socials, signage and templates once a quarter:

Every "was" price is one you genuinely charged for a reasonable period recently — and you can prove it.
Advertised prices are the total minimum price, compulsory fees included.
Anything labelled "free" is actually free, with no hidden recovery of the cost.
Country-of-origin words and imagery match the truth.
Every testimonial is real, recent, unedited and from an actual customer.
You've never written, bought or gated a review, and any review incentives are disclosed and offered to all customers.
Every "#1", "best", "cheapest" or percentage claim has current, independent evidence on file.
All paid or gifted promotion is clearly disclosed as advertising.
Before/after images are genuine, typical and unretouched.
The fine print never contradicts the headline — the overall impression is honest.

If you want a second set of eyes across your website's claims, structure and basics, run our free marketing health check — it takes a few minutes and flags the obvious problems.

Key takeaways

Section 18 of the ACL bans misleading or deceptive conduct — no intent required, and the overall impression is what counts.
Maximum penalties (as at August 2026) are the greater of $100 million, 3x the benefit or 30% of adjusted turnover for companies, and $2.5 million for individuals.
Pricing is the danger zone: genuine "was" prices, total prices up front, and "free" meaning free.
Reviews and testimonials must be genuine — no fake reviews, no gating, no undisclosed incentives.
Puffery is legal; measurable claims need evidence you hold before publishing.
Paid promotion on social media must be clearly disclosed, and the business is on the hook alongside the influencer.

Where to get help

ACCC — advertising and promotions — plain-language guidance on pricing, reviews and claims, plus current penalty figures.
business.gov.au — general guidance on fair trading obligations and links to your state or territory fair trading office.
ASIC — if you advertise financial products, credit or insurance, ASIC polices misleading conduct in that space under parallel rules.
Your accountant — before you build a promotion around discounts or pricing claims, they can help you document what you actually charged and when, which is exactly the evidence a "was/now" claim needs.