Financial Times Reveals Massive Amazon Fake Review Scandal
Excerpt:
Amazon.com has removed 20,000 product reviews after a Financial Times (FT) investigation suggested that some of the site's top U.K. reviewers may have profited from leaving positive ratings, reports Business Insider. The paper's analysis showed nine of Amazon's top 10 U.K. reviewers dished out five-star reviews to products from little-known Chinese brands. The FT found the same products in Facebook groups and forums that offer free products or money in exchange for ratings. Amazon deleted around 20,000 reviews from seven of these users just hours after the paper's report on Friday. Amazon also removed thousands of ratings analyzed in a study into paid-for reviews by the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.