Amazon and Google are under fire over fake reviews in the UK

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It looks like the UK has had enough with fake reviews on major platforms like Amazon and Google. A competition regulator in Britain has opened an official investigation against both Amazon and Google over fake reviews.

According to officials, the companies are not proactive enough in clearing and punishing fake reviews on their platforms.

In a report from Business Insider, the CMA (Competitions and Markets Authority) is now stepping in to investigate the platforms. This investigation is a follow-up to an initial investigation from May of last year that took a broad look at several companies’ internal processes for dealing with fake reviews on the site.

Apparently, that investigation found enough to warrant a deeper look a both Amazon and Google’s processes.

The real concern here is that Amazon is giving a major platform to many online sellers that may be getting an unfair advantage over the ethical competition. Major companies are paying major money to get positive reviews posted on their Amazon stores, creating a huge advantage over law-abiding sellers.

An Amazon spokesperson has responded to the investigation, claiming that the company works hard to combat fake reviews and will continue to assist the CMA with its investigation:

“We work hard to ensure that reviews accurately reflect the experience that customers have had with a product. We will continue to assist the CMA with its enquiries and we note its confirmation that no findings have been made against our business. We are relentless in protecting our store and will take action to stop fake reviews regardless of the size or location of those who attempt this abuse.”

It seems that Amazon is well aware of the issue of fake reviews, but it doesn’t look like the company is interested in doing much more about it.

In fact, if you ask Amazon, social media is to blame for all of the illegal fake reviews on its platform. Whatever the CMA determines, hopefully, something will be done about the insane amount of fake reviews out there.

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