2y ago

Amazon, Tripadvisor and other companies team up to battle fake reviews while FTC seeks to ban them

apnews.com

Technology @beehaw.org

Lee Duna @lemmy.nz

2y ago

The internet is littered with fake reviews. Amazon, Glassdoor and others are trying to fight back

apnews.com /article/fake-reviews-amazon-glassdoor-expedia-trustpilot-43a478ac0b27d6bb773a3bbdba1858b1

11 comments

At one point in the future ... bots will be buying cheap products and reviewing it with glowing reviews and recommendations to other bots who will also buy them and repeat.
Future space faring civilizations will wonder why this planet is filled with automated machines, digital systems that are all manufacturing, purchasing, commenting how great these products are no matter how useless they are, then disposing the products and endlessly repeating the cycle.
They will also wonder who the original inhabitants of this planet were and why they built such a strange system.
I try to never use Amazon, but I recently did. The product I bought was defective, so I tried to leave a review. I was told I'm not allowed to write a review because I haven't purchased enough products recently. Fuck Amazon.
- Atomic Shrimp just tested a very obvious scam memory card, and Amazon deleted their review.
- I bought a popcorn bowl that turned out to be terrible. It came with a leaflet coupon saying if I left a 5-star review, they would send me another bowl for free.
  The comment I tried to leave was a short, fair, polite statement along the lines of 'this bowl doesn't meet the claims X and Y on the description, and came with an offer to trade a good review for another bowl for free." That review got flagged by the automod and was ultimately rejected. If I recall, the rejection message wasn't even specific on what rule my review broke.
Remember when the FCC used fake comments to justify their attacks against net neutrality?
I do.
Yrs ago this would have (foolishly) increased my trust in the companies, but I've long since learned that companies building a "coalition" doesn't mean squat unless it's actually utilized to create positive change.
- For years they profit off fake reviews. The government finally starts to notice and all of a sudden the corporations give a shit? Riiiiight.
  
  It must be hurting their bottom line.
  Or they just want certain reviews to be removed by claiming they are fake.
  No reason to expect that th reason is to benefit their customers.
I thought fake reviews were already illegal?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the most used platforms for travel and online shopping said Tuesday they’re going to team up to battle fake reviews.
Much of the problem is fueled by brokers who solicit fake customer reviews through social media platforms, encrypted messaging apps and other channels in exchange for money, free items or other benefits.
Last year, it also sued the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups that it alleged were coordinating bogus reviews in exchange for money or free products.
Becky Foley, Tripadvisor’s vice president for Trust & Safety, said in a statement included in the news release that combating operators behind fake reviews will be “an immediate area of focus” for the coalition.
“These actors often operate outside of jurisdictions with a legal framework to shut down fraudulent activity, making robust cooperation even more important,” Foley said.
The companies said the coalition is a result conversations that came out of a “Fake Reviews” conference that was organized by Tripadvisor and held last year in San Francisco.
The original article contains 506 words, the summary contains 172 words. Saved 66%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

11 comments