Ask any online seller and they’ll tell you they live or die by customer reviews – a fact that has led to a thriving industry of buying and selling fake reviews. On Tuesday, Amazon announced a new coalition to battle the program that was conceived at the first “Fake Reviews Conference” held in October and organized by TripAdvisor.
“Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor, and Trustpilot announced they have teamed up to launch the global Coalition for Trusted Reviews, a cross-industry collaboration committed to protecting access to trustworthy consumer reviews worldwide,” according to today’s announcement.
“Together, members will define best practices for hosting online reviews and sharing methods of fake review detection, aiming to stop fake reviews at the source.”
The coalition promised to collaborate on public education and ongoing information sharing between members, in an effort to decrease review fraud. Members vowed to share information with each other related to how fraudulent actors operate, “such as companies selling fake reviews to businesses seeking to unfairly and improperly improve their reputations,” in order to help ensure the public is not misled by fraudulent content.
Becky Foley, Vice President of Trust & Safety at Tripadvisor, said combating those attempting to sell fake reviews to companies looking to improve their online reputations would be an immediate area of focus. “These actors often operate outside of jurisdictions with a legal framework to shut down fraudulent activity, making robust cooperation even more important,” she said.”
Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Selling Partner Services, called fake review brokers a global problem that impacted multiple industry sectors. He said members of the new coalition would share information about fraudsters’ tactics and how they operate.
Coalition members will next meet in Brussels on December 5th and 6th at the second Fake Reviews Conference, organized by Amazon.
