London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, May 31, 2025

Amazon and Google under UK competition watchdog scrutiny for not ‘doing enough’ to tackle fake review scourge on their platforms

Amazon and Google under UK competition watchdog scrutiny for not ‘doing enough’ to tackle fake review scourge on their platforms

Citing suspicions that Amazon and Google have not adequately addressed their fake review problems, the UK’s competition regulator has launched probes against the tech giants in relation to breaches of consumer protection law.

Announcing the opening of formal investigations on Friday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said “specific concerns” were raised about whether the two companies were “doing enough” to detect “fake and misleading reviews or suspicious patterns of behaviour.”

An initial sweep, which began in May 2020, cast doubts on whether the firms investigate and remove such reviews, and if they impose “adequate sanctions” to deter reviewers or businesses from violating rules on honest posts – by taking action against repeat offenders in particular.

“Our worry is that millions of online shoppers could be misled by reading fake reviews and then spending their money based on those recommendations,” CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said in an official statement.

“Equally, it’s simply not fair if some businesses can fake five-star reviews to give their products or services the most prominence while law-abiding businesses lose out,” Coscelli added.

If the CMA’s investigation finds Amazon and Google have not sufficiently protected consumers, it can take enforcement action. This could range from “securing formal commitments” to change how they deal with fake reviews to “court action” if necessary.

Misleading and even incentivised consumer reviews have been an e-commerce scourge, with sellers using them to artificially improve their star ratings. This in turn determines how prominently their stores, and products, are displayed on online marketplaces.

The CMA also expressed concerns that Amazon’s detection systems fail to “adequately prevent and deter” some sellers from manipulating product listings – for instance, by “co-opting positive reviews from other products.”

Last September, Amazon had to delete nearly 20,000 product reviews, written by seven of its top UK reviewers, following a Financial Times investigation that discovered the reviewers were being paid to post thousands of five-star ratings.

Ahead of Amazon’s Prime Day sale this month, an investigation by UK consumer protection watchdog Which? found that buyers of some bestselling products were being offered incentives for positive reviews.


In a blog post earlier this month, Amazon attempted to shift the blame to social media companies for not being fast enough to act against the fake reviews it reported, and for not adequately investing in “proactive controls to detect and enforce fake reviews ahead of our reporting the issue to them.”

Noting an increasing trend of “bad actors” soliciting fake reviews – or hiring a third-party to do so on their behalf – outside of Amazon, the company said this “obscure(s) our ability to detect their activity and the relationship between the multiple accounts committing or benefiting from this abuse.”

While the blog did not call any social media platform out by name, it was likely referring to Facebook, which had to sign agreements to “introduce more robust systems to detect and remove such content” last year after being pulled up by the CMA.

However, in April, a follow-up investigation found that little had changed, and Facebook had to remove another 16,000 groups engaging in fake reviews.

Meanwhile, Google’s fake review detection systems have come in for criticism as well. In March, Which? exposed a network of paid-for reviewers providing bogus reviews to several UK businesses’ listings on Google to show how easy and cheap it was to create an artificially inflated customer rating on the search engine’s review system.

Responding to the Which? undercover sting, Google admitted that its automated detection systems allowed “inauthentic reviews” to “slip through from time to time,” despite the tech giant deploying “teams of trained operators and analysts who audit content both individually and in bulk.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Satirical Sketch Sparks Political Spouse Feud in South Korea
Indonesia Quarry Collapse Leaves Multiple Dead and Missing
South Korean Election Video Pulled Amid Misogyny Outcry
Asian Economies Shift Away from US Dollar Amid Trade Tensions
Netflix Investigates Allegations of On-Set Mistreatment in K-Drama Production
US Defence Chief Reaffirms Strong Ties with Singapore Amid Regional Tensions
Vietnam Faces Strategic Dilemma Over China's Mekong River Projects
Malaysia's First AI Preacher Sparks Debate on Islamic Principles
White House Press Secretary Criticizes Harvard Funding, Advocates for Vocational Training
France to Implement Nationwide Smoking Ban in Outdoor Spaces Frequented by Children
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
Russia's Fossil Fuel Revenues Approach €900 Billion Since Ukraine Invasion
U.S. Justice Department Reduces American Bar Association's Role in Judicial Nominations
U.S. Department of Energy Unveils 'Doudna' Supercomputer to Advance AI Research
U.S. SEC Dismisses Lawsuit Against Binance Amid Regulatory Shift
Alcohol Industry Faces Increased Scrutiny Amid Health Concerns
Italy Faces Population Decline Amid Youth Emigration
U.S. Goods Imports Plunge Nearly 20% Amid Tariff Disruptions
OpenAI Faces Competition from Cheaper AI Rivals
Foreign Tax Provision in U.S. Budget Bill Alarms Investors
Trump Accuses China of Violating Trade Agreement
Gerry Adams Wins Libel Case Against BBC
Russia Accuses Serbia of Supplying Arms to Ukraine
EU Central Bank Pushes to Replace US Dollar with Euro as World’s Main Currency
Chinese Woman Dies After Being Forced to Visit Bank Despite Critical Illness
President Trump Grants Full Pardons to Reality TV Stars Todd and Julie Chrisley
Texas Enacts App Store Accountability Act Mandating Age Verification
U.S. Health Secretary Ends Select COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations
Vatican Calls for Sustainable Tourism in 2025 Message
Trump Warns Putin Is 'Playing with Fire' Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict
India and Pakistan Engage Trump-Linked Lobbyists to Influence U.S. Policy
U.S. Halts New Student Visa Interviews Amid Enhanced Security Measures
Trump Administration Cancels $100 Million in Federal Contracts with Harvard
SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Failure, Mars Mission Timeline Uncertain
King Charles Affirms Canadian Sovereignty Amid U.S. Statehood Pressure
Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on iPhones Amid Dispute with Apple CEO
Putin's Helicopter Reportedly Targeted by Ukrainian Drones
Liverpool Car Ramming Incident Leaves Multiple Injured
Australia Faces Immigration Debate Following Labor Party Victory
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Founder Warns Against Trusting Regime in Nuclear Talks
Macron Dismisses Viral Video of Wife's Gesture as Playful Banter
Cleveland Clinic Study Questions Effectiveness of Recent Flu Vaccine
Netanyahu Accuses Starmer of Siding with Hamas
Junior Doctors Threaten Strike Over 4% Pay Offer
Labour MPs Urge Chancellor to Tax Wealthy Over Cutting Welfare
Publication of UK Child Poverty Strategy Delayed Until Autumn
France Detains UK Fishing Vessel Amid Post-Brexit Tensions
Calls Grow to Resume Syrian Asylum Claims in UK
Nigel Farage Pledges to Reinstate Winter Fuel Payments
Boris and Carrie Johnson Welcome Daughter Poppy
×