Amazon Sues Facebook Group Administrators Over Fake Reviews
Amazon.
AMZN 2.43%
com Inc. said it filed a lawsuit against the administrators of what it says are more than 10,000 Facebook groups used to coordinate fake reviews of Amazon products.
Those in charge of the Facebook groups solicit the reviews for items ranging from camera tripods to car stereos in exchange for free products or money, Amazon said in a statement.
The activity, which is against Amazon’s rules, occurs across Amazon’s stores in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan, the company said. Such bogus reviews are typically used to boost products’ ratings and increase the likelihood customers buy them.
The lawsuit represents “proactive legal action targeting bad actors,” Amazon Vice President
Dharmesh Mehta
said in the statement.
Amazon has for years been dogged by inauthentic reviews. During the pandemic, consumers have flocked to e-commerce platforms, and with that has come growing review manipulation and customer frustration. The U.K.’s antitrust regulator last year launched an investigation into whether Amazon and
Alphabet Inc.
unit Google are doing enough to eliminate fake reviews.
One of the Facebook groups, called “Amazon Product Review,” had more than 43,000 members. Facebook removed the group this year, Amazon said, adding that it evaded Facebook’s detection by changing letters in phrases that might set off Facebook’s alarms.
Amazon didn’t disclose the names of the Facebook group administrators or their locations.
The Seattle-based company said it filed the suit in Washington state’s King County Superior Court.
“Groups that solicit or encourage fake reviews violate our policies and are removed,” said a spokeswoman for Facebook’s parent company,
Meta Platforms Inc.
META 4.27%
“We are working with Amazon on this matter and will continue to partner across the industry to address spam and fake reviews.”
U.S. lawmakers in 2019 questioned Amazon’s efforts to tackle fake reviews in a letter to then Chief Executive
Jeff Bezos.
The Federal Trade Commission also in 2019 fined a retail website that paid a third party to post reviews on Amazon, in its first case against the use of fake paid reviews.
Write to Newley Purnell at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Amazon.
AMZN 2.43%
com Inc. said it filed a lawsuit against the administrators of what it says are more than 10,000 Facebook groups used to coordinate fake reviews of Amazon products.
Those in charge of the Facebook groups solicit the reviews for items ranging from camera tripods to car stereos in exchange for free products or money, Amazon said in a statement.
The activity, which is against Amazon’s rules, occurs across Amazon’s stores in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan, the company said. Such bogus reviews are typically used to boost products’ ratings and increase the likelihood customers buy them.
The lawsuit represents “proactive legal action targeting bad actors,” Amazon Vice President
Dharmesh Mehta
said in the statement.
Amazon has for years been dogged by inauthentic reviews. During the pandemic, consumers have flocked to e-commerce platforms, and with that has come growing review manipulation and customer frustration. The U.K.’s antitrust regulator last year launched an investigation into whether Amazon and
Alphabet Inc.
unit Google are doing enough to eliminate fake reviews.
One of the Facebook groups, called “Amazon Product Review,” had more than 43,000 members. Facebook removed the group this year, Amazon said, adding that it evaded Facebook’s detection by changing letters in phrases that might set off Facebook’s alarms.
Amazon didn’t disclose the names of the Facebook group administrators or their locations.
The Seattle-based company said it filed the suit in Washington state’s King County Superior Court.
“Groups that solicit or encourage fake reviews violate our policies and are removed,” said a spokeswoman for Facebook’s parent company,
Meta Platforms Inc.
META 4.27%
“We are working with Amazon on this matter and will continue to partner across the industry to address spam and fake reviews.”
U.S. lawmakers in 2019 questioned Amazon’s efforts to tackle fake reviews in a letter to then Chief Executive
Jeff Bezos.
The Federal Trade Commission also in 2019 fined a retail website that paid a third party to post reviews on Amazon, in its first case against the use of fake paid reviews.
Write to Newley Purnell at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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