Amazon, Expedia and Trustpilot unite to fight
Several major online companies have united to combat fake reviews, including Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia, and Tripadvisor.
Fraudsters will also be deterred by this group, which includes workplace review site Glassdoor and review platform Trustpilot.
There is concern that chatbot-like AI systems are being used to generate bogus online reviews.
The use of fake reviews can harm a company’s reputation and lead consumers to buy products and services that are of low value.
In a recent government report, bogus reviews of products alone are estimated to cost UK consumers around £312 million annually.
It found that up to 15% of reviews on e-commerce platforms in three common product categories – consumer electronics, home and kitchen, and sports and outdoors – were likely fake.
As part of a new Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumer Bill currently going through parliament, the government intends to combat the buying, selling, and hosting of fake reviews.
Similar measures are being proposed by the Federal Trade Commission in the US.
Fake review fraudsters and retailers are likely to engage in an arms race due to the growing power of artificial intelligence.
The Coalition for Trusted Reviews already uses AI to detect fake reviews, but AI could also make it cheaper and faster to write large numbers of convincing fake reviews.
Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon vice president, announced the new group, saying fraudsters affect many industries worldwide.