Amazon and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) have jointly filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down ReviewServiceUSA.com, a site that allegedly attempted to sell fake positive reviews for Amazon product listing pages or BBB business profiles. The suit, filed in King County Superior Court, is the latest effort by Amazon to stem the tide of fake reviews.
On its own, Amazon blocked more than 250 million suspected fake reviews on its ecommerce site in 2023. In October 2022 Amazon filed both criminal and civil lawsuits in Europe as well as 10 suits in the U.S. in its attempts to thwart fake reviews, and in June 2023 Amazon revealed a cross-industry strategy for dealing with this challenge. In October 2023 Amazon and several other major sites, including Expedia and Glassdoor, also formed the Coalition for Trusted Reviews to help fight fake reviews.
“Amazon is committed to ensuring reviews remain a trustworthy, insightful resource for consumers worldwide and we have zero tolerance for any attempts to mislead our customers through fake reviews,” said Claire O’Donnell, Director of Selling Partner Trust and Store Integrity at Amazon in a statement. “We’re grateful for the collaboration with the Better Business Bureau to hold these fake review brokers accountable for their deceitful actions. This lawsuit sends a clear message to bad actors that Amazon will use all available means to preserve the authenticity of product reviews.”
In July 2023 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed new, tougher rules that would not only ban fake reviews but also the suppression of negative reviews and payment for positive ones.
Advertisement
