"Amaaazing quality, feels like silk"... probably a review for that paper-thin polyester Amazon PJ. More than a third of Amazon reviews are estimated to be fake or unreliable. Now the Zon is taking legal action to crack down on fake five-stars: yesterday, Amazon filed a suit against administrators of 10K+ Facebook groups it accuses of brokering bogus reviews in exchange for money or free stuff.
- Admins of one group are accused of charging Amazon sellers $10 for each good review. Another group, "Amazon Product Review," amassed 43K+ members before being removed.
- Many of the groups are private, and posters try to evade moderators by omitting letters (think: “Rfund Aftr Rvew.”)
- Amazon wants the groups to shut down and return their “ill-gotten gains.” Facebook owner Meta has removed half of the groups reported — and is investigating others.
Bluetooth headphones and supplements... some of the hardest-hit categories for fake reviews. Phony write-ups have become a growing headache for Amazon, whose marketplace now includes millions of third-party sellers. It's not just a Facebook problem: illicit review communities have thrived on social apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and WeChat.
- Moderate: Amazon has said that it uses a mix of AI and human moderators to hunt fake reviews, and has reported thousands of groups to social companies.
- Spiral: Still, thousands of bogus reviews keep cropping up across the Zon’s massive storefront — and sneaky sellers and review brokers are cashing in.
Phoniness is a trust-killer… Amazon isn’t the only one plagued by the fake-review biz: Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google have the same problem (see: non-existent restaurant hits #1 on TripAdvisor). Five-star reviews might be the reason you spend your hard-earned money on something. Misleading reviews could cause you to lose trust in a platform, threatening review-reliant businesses like Amazon.