The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened a formal probe into Amazon and Google over concerns that they have not taken significant action to combat fake reviews on their sites.
The CMA is set to gather further information in order to determine whether the two firms have broken consumer law by not doing enough to protect shoppers from fake reviews.
The probe follows an initial CMA investigation that assessed several platforms’ internal systems for identifying and dealing with fake reviews.
According to the CMA, this investigation raised specific concerns including whether Amazon and Google have been doing enough to:
- ‘Detect fake and misleading reviews or suspicious patterns of behaviour. For example, where the same users have reviewed the same range of products or businesses at similar times to each other and there is no connection between those products or businesses – or where the review suggests that the reviewer has received a payment or other incentive to write a positive review.
- ‘Investigate and, where necessary, remove promptly fake and misleading reviews from their platforms.
- ‘Impose adequate sanctions on reviewers or businesses to deter them and others from posting fake or misleading reviews on their platforms – including those who have published these types of reviews many times.’
Following this investigation, if the CMA considers the firms have broken consumer protection law, the CMA will have the power to take enforcement action. However, the CMA has not reached a view on whether Amazon and Google have broken the law at this stage.
More information on the CMA’s probe into Amazon and Google can be found on the Online Reviews case page.