Amazon and Google Questioned Over Fake Reviews

It is not exactly a secret that when it comes to most forms of online review systems, there are definitely weaknesses that allow for a product, business, or service to have an inaccurate representation of just how good or bad they really are. This is perhaps most prevalent on websites such Google or Amazon, where fake reviews can often make something look massively better than it really is.

Following a report via the BBC, however, both of these companies may potentially be risking legal action unless they take what is considered a far more proactive stance in attempting to stop this from happening on their respective platforms.

Google and Amazon Warned Over Fake Reviews

We should note that this isn’t the first warning given to Google or Amazon over their failure to address fake reviews. Given that both did pledge to look to stop this, however, the Competition and Markets Authority had alleged that neither has so far been anything close to proactive enough to actually make a tangible difference.

They accuse both companies of easily having the resources and technology to identify and combat this problem but still seemingly take a very apathetic approach in actually doing something proactive about it. However, if they don’t improve in the future, the Competition and Markets Authority has warned that they increasingly face the risk of legal action being lodged.

What Do We Think?

The problem for consumers is clearly the fact that a purchase, business decision, or just something as simple as an evening meal might be influenced by an online review system that has been completely fabricated. And for the less investigative user, it can often be difficult to truly identify sources who have been a little creative in overinflating their product or services stature.

Will anything happen despite this new warning, though? Well, the short version is, we doubt it. If you are basing your purchase off user reviews, however, all we can recommend is that you take the time to big beneath the surface. Actually, read the reviews and see if what they’re saying is actually specifically relevant to the business or product. If it’s not, you know you might be looking at something that presents itself as better than it really is!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!