FTC bans fake online reviews, inflated social media influence; rule takes effect in October - eviltoast
  • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I’m sorry, Amazon complained about fake reviews!? They know what site they run right, and more to the point the behavior they almost explicitly condone on that site?

    • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      they actually dont condone it, its just that the rate they come in is faster than they can filter out.

      for example a while back, Amazon removed Ravpower, Aukey, Mpow from Amazon products list due to companies asking basically paying buyers ti give good reviews. its why those companies basically were deleted off in the U.S market allowing for companies like Anker to rapidly grow.

      if you live in the bay area in california, there is a well known seller who frequents tech swaps/flea markets selling the products of these companies for very cheap.

      • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Oh they absolutely condone it, both by frequently ignoring reports of fake reviews and occasionally even banning the reporter and by allowing companies to do that thing where they swap product pages to get a bunch of free reviews from something completely different.

        • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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          4 months ago

          on the flip side, they clamp down hard on communities where companies pay people for reviews for free products. It was a huge issue on reddit and several of its communities were essentially banned. its a two faced situation where soo much shit is happening on all sides that it doesnt look like theyre actively fully one sided.

      • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        Why do they need to filter?

        Can’t they easily tell that an account bought a certain product? Only allow those accounts to make a review, and only accounts that have made a certain number of purchases before.

        • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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          4 months ago

          there are communities off amazon on various platforms where companies will basically refund your entire order after they confirm a 5* review for a product they bought, and amazon basically attempts to chase those communities wherever they go. It’s not easy for amazon to find out which purchases were purchases that were legitamately made by a user vs a user whose been using amazon, but took a backroom deal to get a free product.

          I had a roomate in college who was in those kinds of programs to get free shit and can verify that he basically was refunded after purchase of stuff. Of course, this action is extremely against Amazons TOS