E-Commerce: UK regulators to investigate Amazon, Google over fake reviews

*UK’s Competition and Markets Authority pushes for further information to determine whether the two global tech firms may have broken consumer law by taking insufficient action to protect shoppers from fake reviews

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

Following growing concerns that the global technology giants have not been doing enough to combat fake reviews on their Web sites, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the United Kingdom (UK) has opened a formal probe into Amazon and Google.

ConsumerConnect reports Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of CMA, in a statement said: “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 5-star reviews to give their products or services the most prominence, while law-abiding businesses lose out.”

The CMA as well noted that it will gather further information in order to determine whether these two tech firms may have broken consumer law by taking insufficient action to protect shoppers from fake reviews.

Coscelli said CMA is investigating concerns that Amazon and Google have not been doing enough to prevent or remove fake reviews to protect consumers and honest businesses.

The Chief Executive of the agency stated: “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.”

It was learnt that the British regulators are concerned whether Amazon and Google have been doing enough to detect fake and misleading reviews or suspicious patterns of behavior.

For example, where the same users have reviewed the same range of products or businesses at similar times to each other, and there is no connection between those products or businesses – or where the review suggests that the reviewer has received a payment or other incentive to write a positive review.

The Competition and Markets Authority is also concerned that Amazon’s systems have been failing adequately to prevent and deter some sellers from manipulating product listings – for example, by co-opting positive reviews from other products.

Report indicates that fake and misleading reviews have the potential to impact businesses’ star ratings, and how prominently companies and products are displayed to consumers, changing their whole shopping experience in the process.