Tag: fake reviews
Tech Digest daily roundup: Fake reviews to become illegal under new legislation
Buying, selling or hosting fake reviews will become illegal as part of changes planned in new laws. The UK government's new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill aims to help consumers and increase competition between big tech firms. The bill is being introduced on Tuesday and bans people receiving money or free goods for writing…
Facebook infiltrated by ‘fake review factories’, warns Which?
Facebook is still being infiltrated by fake review factories, despite the imminent publication of a new bill that will make this activity illegal and subject to potentially huge fines from the regulator, new Which? research has found. The consumer watchdog's latest snapshot investigation found more than a dozen groups trading fake glowing reviews in exchange…
Trustpilot removed nearly 2 million fake reviews in 2021
Trustpilot claims it removed nearly 2 million fake reviews in 2021, out of around 46.7 million which were left on its platform during the period. The consumer website claims to have invested heavily in fraud and anomaly detection software which has sped up and enhanced the process of identifying and removing fake reviews. Using this…
Facebook and Twitter failing to tackle fake review industry, Which? finds
Facebook and Twitter are failing to tackle fake reviews industry that is trading free items in exchange for bogus five-star ratings to boost the ratings of mediocre products sold on Amazon, a Which? investigation has found. The consumer watchdog uncovered Facebook fake review groups with hundreds of thousands of members between them as well as…
Which? says Amazon still showing fake and paid-for reviews
Best-selling products and brands on Amazon Marketplace are displaying reviews from buyers saying they have been offered vouchers, freebies and money in exchange for posting five-star reviews and removing negative ones, a Which? investigation has revealed. The consumer watchdog looked at dozens of popular products and brands on Amazon Marketplace and by using search terms…
Which? warns about fake reviews ahead of Black Friday
Which? is warning of the risk of fake reviews misleading shoppers this Black Friday as new research suggests Amazon is struggling to spot and prevent sellers from using unscrupulous tactics to manipulate their ratings. Fake reviews are a big problem on many of the world’s biggest websites and Which? has also previously uncovered evidence of…
Fake review sales rife on Facebook and eBay, reports CMA
Facebook and eBay have been urged by the competition watchdog to stop the sale of fake reviews through their sites, after it found “troubling evidence” that there is a thriving marketplace for them. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that after web sweeps performed between November 2018 to June 2019, it was concerned about…
Amazon failing to remove enough fake reviews, claims Which?
Retail giant Amazon is only removing a proportion of fake and suspicious reviews that risk misleading shoppers into buying poor-quality products, according to Which? The watchdog found Amazon had removed 78,000 reviews for popular technology products over the last three years, but said the number was not “nearly enough” to address the problem. It found…
Amazon customer ratings hit by ‘fake’ five-star reviews, claims Which?
Amazon’s system of customer reviews and ratings is being undermined by a flood of “fake” five-star reviews for products made by unknown brands, a consumer group has claimed. Which? investigated hundreds of technology products in 14 popular categories, including headphones, dash cams, fitness trackers and smart watches, checking for tell-tale signs of suspicious reviews. It…
