British competition watchdog secures undertaking from Google to tackle fake reviews, as Amazon probe continues
The British competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has secured a notable commitment from Google.
The CMA announced that “Google has agreed to make significant changes to its processes for tackling fake reviews – meaning people can have more trust in the reviews they see.”
It comes after the CMA in June 2021 has begun an investigation into both Amazon and Google, and whether they have done enough to detect and remove fake reviews from their respective platforms.
Image credit: Unsplash
Fake reviews
It came after Amazon in September 2020 said it had removed tens of thousands of product reviews following analyses by academics and media outlets into the problem of fake reviews – an issue that apparently worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Large numbers of five-star reviews are a key element in boosting a product’s rankings on Amazon’s and Google websites. Misleading reviews are therefore a massive e-commerce problem, most notably for Amazon.
Indeed, the British regulator stated that online reviews can have a huge impact on consumer spending.
The CMA estimated that as much as £23 billion of UK consumer spending is potentially influenced by online reviews annually, and research has shown that 89 percent of consumers use online customer reviews when researching a product or service.
Now four years after it began investigating, the CMA confirmed that Google has signed a number of undertakings that require it to sanction UK businesses that have boosted their star ratings with fake reviews – as well as sanctioning people who have written fake reviews for UK businesses.
Google commitments
The CMA said that Google has committed to “have in place enhanced processes to tackle fake reviews written about businesses and services. Google has also agreed to enforce sanctions to deter businesses that try to benefit from fake reviews and sanction those that write fake or misleading reviews.”
The sanctions includes putting ‘warning alerts’ on the profiles of British businesses that have used fake reviews to boost their ratings. Firms that repeatedly engage in fake review activity will have all their reviews deleted for 6 months or more.
Google will also implement a robust reporting function, that consumers to easily and quickly report concerning reviews.
The CMA said it welcomes the constructive solutions-focused approach that Google has taken towards developing these undertakings and its commitment to implement the changes swiftly.
“When it comes to tackling fake reviews, Google is leading the way,” said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA. “Left unchecked, fake reviews damage people’s trust and leave businesses who do the right thing at a disadvantage.”
Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority. Image credit: CMA
“The changes we’ve secured from Google ensure robust processes are in place, so people can have confidence in reviews and make the best possible choices,” said Cardell. “They also help to create a level-playing field for fair dealing firms.”
“This is a matter of fairness – for both business and consumers – and we encourage the entire sector to take note,” Cardell concluded.
To ensure Google is complying with the undertakings it has signed, the firm will report to the CMA over a 3-year period.
Meanwhile the CMA said that the “investigation into Amazon is ongoing and an update will be made in due course.”
Busy CMA
It has been an eventful few weeks for the CMA.
Last week the British regulator launched an “investigation to determine if Google has strategic market status in search and search advertising activities, and whether these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses in the UK.”
Then earlier this week the UK Labour government replaced the CMA chairman Marcus Bokkerink with interim CMA Chair Doug Gurr – a former country manager of Amazon UK and President of Amazon China.
The CMA’s Marcus Bokkerink was effectively ousted by the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, as the Labour government seeks to focus on growth after Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed her unpopular budget last October that announced record tax increases for British citizens and businesses.
The sudden ousting of the CMA chair prompted warnings from antitrust lawyers of governmental interference in UK regulation.
And it seems the CMA was not deterred by the government action.
Shortly after the chair removal, the CMA began a formal investigation into the domination of the mobile ecosystems by Apple and Google.
The CMA said that two investigations – one into Apple and another into Google – will assess in parallel these firms’ position in their respective ‘mobile ecosystems’ which include the operating systems, app stores and browsers that operate on mobile devices.
