Amazon sues operator of 10,000 Facebook groups over fake review schemes

Amazon’s Long Activity campaign against fake reviews just enjoyed some success. TechCrunch report That Amazon sued admin of over 10,000 Facebook groups for trying to coordinate fake reviews in exchange for free products or money. Group executives have been trying to recruit people in the US, UK, four European countries and Japan. One of the larger examples, Amazon Product Review, attempted to avoid detection by “obfuscating” the letters in phrases used to detect activity like this. Meta had amassed 43,000 members earlier this year.

The legal action comes after about two years of correctly identifying fraudulent Facebook groups. Amazon says it will use the information obtained during the discovery process to identify the perpetrators and issue fake reviews that originate in these communities.

Amazon has been suing peddlers of fake reviews since 2015 and has ramped up its efforts in recent years. The online shopping giant reported more than 1,000 paid review groups for social networks in the first quarter of 2021, or triple the volume it reported a year earlier. However, the company argues that the reports and lawsuits are not enough to prevent fake reviews. They believe a more permanent solution would involve stronger “public-private partnerships” between online stores, social networks and law enforcement.

Whether Amazon can meaningfully prevent fake reviews is another matter. This latest bust underscores the scope of the problem – it’s easy to create a social media group that goes undetected for long enough to cause significant damage. UK regulators certainly don’t convince Amazon to do enough and have opened an investigation into the company’s approach to bogus reviews. Amazon is fighting a battle that can be hard to win under ideal circumstances, and it’s unclear whether the company’s current strategy will work.