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The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced Friday that it will be investigating the prevalence of fake reviews on Google and Amazon, as well as the tech companies’ failure to protect shoppers from such reviews.
The CMA said that it will be looking into charges that Amazon and Google allowed, or at least failed to stop, online retailers to pay for five-star reviews. The practice, says the agency, is unfair to consumers and competitors.
“Our worry is that millions of online shoppers could be misled by reading fake reviews and then spending their money based on those recommendations. Equally, it’s simply not fair if some businesses can fake five-star reviews to give their products or services the most prominence, while law-abiding businesses lose out”, Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s chief executive, said in a Friday, according to Law360.
The regulatory agency’s deeper dive into fake reviews comes after an initial investigation commenced more than one year ago.
“We are investigating concerns that Amazon and Google have not been doing enough to prevent or remove fake reviews to protect customers and honest businesses”, Coscelli said in her statement. “It’s important that these tech platforms take responsibility, and we stand ready to take action if we find that they are not doing enough”.
The CMA reportedly investigated whether Google and Amazon had done enough to flag and remove fake five-star reviews, as well as allowing sellers to “co-opt” positive reviews from other products. Now, the agency will consider whether the tech giants’ alleged lack of action amounts to a violation of UK law, and, if so, additional deterrents are necessary, such as formal commitments or even legal action.
Amazon and Google say that they are fighting fake reviews.
“To help earn the trust of customers, we devote significant resources to preventing fake or incentivized reviews from appearing in our store”, said an Amazon spokesperson in an email to Law360, pledging that the company will keep working with regulators. “We work hard to ensure that reviews accurately reflect the experience that customers have had with a product”.
Google echoed those sentiments in the wake of the announcement of further investigation into fake reviews by the CMA.
“Our strict policies clearly state reviews must be based on real experiences, and when we find policy violations, we take action — from removing abusive content to disabling user accounts”, a Google spokesperson stated in an email to Law360. “We look forward to continuing our work with the CMA to share more on how our industry-leading technology and review teams work to help users find relevant and useful information on Google”.
Both online retail giants have been dogged by claims that sellers can purchase five-star reviews to boost sales – ultimately duping consumers. Earlier this year, an investigation conducted by Which? reportedly revealed that some online firms are gaming the system with armies of people writing fake reviews on products they never bought in exchange for free products or cash.
Do you think Amazon and Google should do more to stop fake reviews? Tell us in the comment section below!
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