Amazon is taking legal action against four separate companies that deliberately sell fake reviews on its platform.
The firms employ hundreds of thousands of freelance reviewers, acting as brokers between sellers needing reviews to bolster their products and these freelance reviewers. It is not apparent that the sellers who pay for these services are aware of the machinations.
Fake reviews are rife on Amazon. The company says it prevented over 200 million suspected fake reviews from going live in 2020 alone.
“Fake review brokers attempt to profit by deceiving unknowing consumers and creating an unfair competitive advantage that harms our selling partners,” Amazon’s Dharmesh Mehta said in February, when the company launched action against two other companies.
“We know how valuable trustworthy reviews are to our customers. That is why we are holding these review fraudsters accountable. While we prevent millions of suspicious reviews from ever appearing in our store, these lawsuits target the source.”
