UK probes Amazon, Google for fake reviews of goods
LONDON: After opening cases against Facebook and Google, the UK's competition regulator Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a fresh probe into Amazon and Google to assess if they are protecting shoppers from fake reviews. The move follows the CMA's initiation of an inquiry last May that raised concerns over the companies' handling of fake or misleading reviews on their respective sites, Engadget reported.
At the time, the regulator did not specify which websites it was investigating. Instead, it said that it was looking into issues including suspicious behaviour, such as a single user posting multiple reviews for an unlikely range of products or services.
The CMA also examined if businesses were combining reviews for products to manipulate their ranking and how sites were dealing with the shady practice of remuneration for reviews.
This type of behaviour is illegal under UK consumer protection law, with the CMA responsible for enforcing the rules, the report said. Amazon and Google respectively wield enormous power over e-commerce and online search. Last year, Amazon's annual net sales grew 38 per cent to $386 billion as people took to shopping online during the pandemic. (IANS)
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