Term
Definition
Note
Rating and review content
Rating: Classification and measurement to rank and rate how good or popular something is. This can also include fake followers
Review: Critical article in order to evaluate something
Can become disinformation when used to harm, to mislead or without a real context
Product reviews
Trip and hotel reviews
British shoppers are being deceived into buying products online by unscrupulous sellers on Amazon using fake and paid-for reviews, an investigation has found, reports The Telegraph in 2018. The investigation by Which?, the consumer magazine, found Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members were being offered free or discounted products in exchange for positive reviews.
Further investigations by Which? were reported by The Guardian in April 2019 confirming a "flood of fake five-star reviews" is still a major problem for Amazon. As an example of the magnitude of the problem, "one set of headphones made by the brand Celebrat had 439 reviews. All were five-star, all unverified, and all arrived on the same day". In one particular product group, 87% of more than 12,000 reviews for the products were by unverified purchasers. “Our research suggests that Amazon is losing the battle against fake reviews, with shoppers bombarded by comments aimed at artificially boosting products from unknown brands,” said Natalie Hitchins, the head of home products at Which?.
FIVE STAR 'FAKERY' is the title which The Sun chose for its article on fake hotel reviews. One in three TripAdvisor reviews are FAKE’ with hotels and restaurants buying glowing reviews for £7. Investigation finds that a large number of reviews on the site seem to have been uploaded by websites which offer glowing praise for a fee.