Houston Chronicle

Platforms say they’ll team up to battle fake reviews

- By Haleluya Hadero

NEW YORK — Some of the most used platforms for travel and online shopping said Tuesday they’re going to team up to battle fake reviews.

Amazon, reviews site Glassdoor and Trustpilot, as well as travel companies Expedia Group, Booking.com and Tripadviso­r said in an announceme­nt they’re launching a coalition that aims to protect access to “trustworth­y consumer reviews” worldwide.

The companies said the members of the group, which will be called Coalition for Trusted Reviews, will look for best practices for hosting online reviews and share methods on how to detect fake ones. That will include developing standards for what constitute­s a fake review and sharing informatio­n about how bad actors operate.

Phony reviews have long plagued online marketplac­es despite their efforts to eradicate it. 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. Brokers can solicit positive reviews to boost sales for businesses or sellers. They can also also post negative reviews for competitor­s in order to tank their sales.

Last month, Amazon said two review brokers in China were sentenced to two-and-ahalf years in prison and three years of probation after using messaging apps to advertise and sell fake reviews to Amazon selling accounts. The company has filed a flurry of other lawsuits in the past year against operators that it says were doing similar things. 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.

Facebook groups trading reviews for Google and Trustpilot, which allows users to leave feedback for businesses, were also discovered earlier this year by the British consumer watchdog group “Which?”

Federal regulators have also been aiming to crack down on bogus reviews aiming to deceive consumers. In June, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule that, among other things, would prohibit businesses from selling or obtaining fake reviews, suppressin­g honest reviews and selling fake social media engagement.

Businesses would also be prohibited from creating or controllin­g a website that claims to provide independen­t opinions about its products and employing other practices like “review hijacking,” which makes reviews for one product appear like they were written for different ones. If the proposal is adopted, violators can be face penalties.

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. They said they will meet in early December at a second conference that will be organized by Amazon and held in Brussels.

 ?? Jenny Kane/Associated Press ?? Online customer reviews for a product are displayed on a screen. Some of the most used platforms for travel and online shopping said Tuesday they’re going to team up to battle fake reviews.
Jenny Kane/Associated Press Online customer reviews for a product are displayed on a screen. Some of the most used platforms for travel and online shopping said Tuesday they’re going to team up to battle fake reviews.

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