As online reviews become a more important part of the consumer buying process, Amazon is getting more aggressive about going after fake reviewers.
On Friday, the retail giant filed lawsuits against more than 1,000 people for allegedly selling fake reviews for $5 a pop through the online gig market Fiverr.com. The suit, first reported by GeekWire, follows an undercover investigation by Amazon.
“While small in number, [fake] reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn, tarnishes Amazon’s brand,” the suit states. “Amazon strictly prohibits any attempt to manipulate customer reviews and expressly prohibits compensated reviews. Nonetheless, an unhealthy ecosystem has developed outside of Amazon to supply reviews in exchange for payment.”
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Amazon doesn’t name the individuals it’s suing, but identifies them via their Fiverr handles.
Amazon’s rules, agreed to buy customers in order to set up an account, ban illegitimate reviews. In April, the company sued several websites that sold fake online reviews.
It is not suing Fiverr, which prohibits the sale of such services. Fiverr spokesman Channing Barringer told Bloomberg that the company is cooperating with Amazon on the issue.
Online reviews have become a key source of information for consumers. Nearly eight in 10 Americans read customer reviews before making a purchase, and 44 percent of Americans have written online reviews, according to a report released last year by YouGov. One in five people surveyed said that they had written reviews for products or services they never used.
