Trade in fake reviews still ‘thriving’ on Facebook, says Which?
Facebook groups offering fake reviews on the likes of Amazon, Google and Trustpilot are persistent despite regulators’ demands that tech platforms do more to tackle the issue, according to an investigation by a consumer group.
Groups on the social network with thousands of members offer free products in exchange for reviews, said the consumer group Which?, despite past interventions by UK regulators.
Researchers found 14 Facebook groups trading in reviews for Amazon, Google and Trustpilot. Together they shared more than 62,000 members between them.
Fake reviews have become one of the most persistent scourges of online retailers, and the UK government is expected to make the practice illegal in the forthcoming digital markets, competition and consumer bill. The bill would make it illegal to pay someone to write a fake review or to host a review without taking steps to check it is real.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority told Facebook to clamp down on fake reviews in 2020 and again in 2021, when the social network removed more than 16,000 groups. Which? estimates that the groups it has reported to Facebook since 2018 have had more than 1 million members in total.
Rocio Concha, the consumer group’s director of policy and advocacy, said: “An industry dedicated to fake review trading continues to thrive on Facebook, leaving consumers exposed to misleading information on some of the world’s biggest review and shopping platforms.”
She said the “strong enforcement and tough penalties for platforms that fail in their legal responsibilities” promised by the UK government was “sorely needed to tackle fake reviews”.
A spokesperson for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said:“Fraudulent and deceptive activity is not allowed on our
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