Facebook and eBay have pledged to do more to eliminate fake reviews on their platforms after receiving pressure from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). In June 2018, the CMA ordered both online platforms to tackle the on-going issue involving fake reviews which led to an 8 month investigation which revealed ‘troubling evidence’ of their prevalence. The pair have made progress in identifying and removing suspicious accounts on their respective sites. Facebook confirmed that they have removed 188 groups and suspended 24 user accounts which are responsible for doing fake reviews in exchange for monetary gain. And, the CAM has confirmed that eBay has banned 140 users from its site since the summer.
J&P comments
Fake positive reviews are often written by business owners, employees or by paid reviewers in a bid to boost sales. This practice is unethical since it’s dishonest, misleading, and it defeats the purpose of having a customer review put in place. However, those that do commit it could argue that if companies actually provide an excellent service, then no actual harm is being made.
