The British competition authority CMA has launched a formal investigation into fake reviews on Amazon and Google sites. The regulator suspects the American tech groups of being too lax against fake reviews.
In doing so, the companies may be violating the rights of consumers, the regulator warns.
During a preliminary investigation, the market watchdog noticed that at Google and Amazon, reviews from exactly the same users appear at the same time for multiple products or services, while there is no clear connection between those products. The companies may not have done enough to detect these kinds of reviews. The same goes for online reviews with indications that their author has been paid for a positive review.
Amazon would also do too little against companies that manipulate scores for their products within the webshops, for example, by adding positive reviews of other articles. In response, Amazon says it uses “significant resources” against fake reviews in its webshops.
“We are concerned that millions of people online are being misled by fake reviews and then spending their money based on those recommendations,” said CMA director Andrea Coscelli. “And it’s also unfair that some companies fake 5-star reviews to show them off, while honest companies lose ground.”