Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Amazon and Google under UK competition watchdog scrutiny for not ‘doing enough’ to tackle fake review scourge on their platforms

Amazon and Google under UK competition watchdog scrutiny for not ‘doing enough’ to tackle fake review scourge on their platforms

Citing suspicions that Amazon and Google have not adequately addressed their fake review problems, the UK’s competition regulator has launched probes against the tech giants in relation to breaches of consumer protection law.

Announcing the opening of formal investigations on Friday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said “specific concerns” were raised about whether the two companies were “doing enough” to detect “fake and misleading reviews or suspicious patterns of behaviour.”

An initial sweep, which began in May 2020, cast doubts on whether the firms investigate and remove such reviews, and if they impose “adequate sanctions” to deter reviewers or businesses from violating rules on honest posts – by taking action against repeat offenders in particular.

“Our worry is that millions of online shoppers could be misled by reading fake reviews and then spending their money based on those recommendations,” CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said in an official statement.

“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,” Coscelli added.

If the CMA’s investigation finds Amazon and Google have not sufficiently protected consumers, it can take enforcement action. This could range from “securing formal commitments” to change how they deal with fake reviews to “court action” if necessary.

Misleading and even incentivised consumer reviews have been an e-commerce scourge, with sellers using them to artificially improve their star ratings. This in turn determines how prominently their stores, and products, are displayed on online marketplaces.

The CMA also expressed concerns that Amazon’s detection systems fail to “adequately prevent and deter” some sellers from manipulating product listings – for instance, by “co-opting positive reviews from other products.”

Last September, Amazon had to delete nearly 20,000 product reviews, written by seven of its top UK reviewers, following a Financial Times investigation that discovered the reviewers were being paid to post thousands of five-star ratings.

Ahead of Amazon’s Prime Day sale this month, an investigation by UK consumer protection watchdog Which? found that buyers of some bestselling products were being offered incentives for positive reviews.


In a blog post earlier this month, Amazon attempted to shift the blame to social media companies for not being fast enough to act against the fake reviews it reported, and for not adequately investing in “proactive controls to detect and enforce fake reviews ahead of our reporting the issue to them.”

Noting an increasing trend of “bad actors” soliciting fake reviews – or hiring a third-party to do so on their behalf – outside of Amazon, the company said this “obscure(s) our ability to detect their activity and the relationship between the multiple accounts committing or benefiting from this abuse.”

While the blog did not call any social media platform out by name, it was likely referring to Facebook, which had to sign agreements to “introduce more robust systems to detect and remove such content” last year after being pulled up by the CMA.

However, in April, a follow-up investigation found that little had changed, and Facebook had to remove another 16,000 groups engaging in fake reviews.

Meanwhile, Google’s fake review detection systems have come in for criticism as well. In March, Which? exposed a network of paid-for reviewers providing bogus reviews to several UK businesses’ listings on Google to show how easy and cheap it was to create an artificially inflated customer rating on the search engine’s review system.

Responding to the Which? undercover sting, Google admitted that its automated detection systems allowed “inauthentic reviews” to “slip through from time to time,” despite the tech giant deploying “teams of trained operators and analysts who audit content both individually and in bulk.”

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
×