Amazon files lawsuit against thousands of Facebook group admins over fake reviews

One of the Facebook groups highlighted in Amazon’s lawsuit against Facebook group administrators over fake reviews. (Image via lawsuit)

Amazon is taking aim at fake reviews on its marketplace in a new lawsuit targeting more than 10,000 Facebook group administrators.

The suit, filed this week in King County Superior Court in Seattle, is the latest attempt by the e-commerce giant to combat fake reviews.

Amazon alleges that the Facebook group administrators organize marketplaces “for the purchase and sale of fake reviews.” It says they are “actively deceiving Amazon’s customers and tarnishing Amazon’s brand for their own profit as well as for the profit of dishonest sellers who purchase their services,” according to the suit.

The suit identifies Facebook admins who guarantee 5-star reviews to sellers in exchange for payments of up to $10 per review. Some admins orchestrate fake reviews in exchange for free products, Amazon said.

In a press release, Amazon said it has more than 12,000 employees working on fraud and abuse in its stores. It has reported more than 10,000 fake review groups to Facebook parent Meta, and it stopped more than 200 million suspected fake reviews in 2020.

The Seattle-based tech giant says it works with Facebook to shut down these groups but new groups offering fake reviews continue to appear.

“Our teams stop millions of suspicious reviews before they’re ever seen by customers, and this lawsuit goes a step further to uncover perpetrators operating on social media,” Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Selling Partner Services, said in a statement.

Last year a U.K. regulator opened an investigation to assess whether Amazon and Google were doing enough to address fake reviews, which can improve a product ratings or search rankings.

See also  Amazon stock sinks 10% after Q1 earnings as costs rise amid inflation, supply chain pressure

Earlier this year Amazon filed a separate suit against two sites it alleges brokered large numbers of fraudulent and misleading product reviews.

The lawsuits continue a legal campaign that dates back nearly seven years. Amazon filed its first-ever lawsuit over fake reviews in April 2015.

 

Related Posts

Report: Veteran sports broadcaster Al Michaels to call Amazon’s NFL games on Thursdays

Al Michaels in Los Angeles in 2018. (BigStock Photo) Al Michaels, the longtime NFL play-by-play broadcaster, is Amazon’s pick to call “Thursday Night Football” games streaming on…

Seattle Pride drops Amazon sponsorship, cites company’s donations to politicians that support ‘anti-LGBTQIA+’ legislation

Seattle Pride is initiating a process to evaluate its corporate sponsors and will not partner with Amazon for its 2022 pride parade. (Seattle Pride Photo) Seattle Pride…

Amazon opens supply hub for Ukrainian refugees, its largest humanitarian aid facility ever

Amazon is helping to store and distribute supplies to aid Ukrainian refugees in European countries. (Amazon Photo) Amazon is converting warehouse space in Slovakia, previously used to…

Amazon names Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit as the voices of ‘Thursday Night Football’ on Prime

(Amazon Image) Amazon has officially announced that veteran sports play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit will be the broadcast duo for “Thursday Night…

Amazon Games studio head Mike Frazzini is leaving the company

Mike Frazzini. (GeekWire FIle Photo) Mike Frazzini, the head of Amazon Games, is stepping down from his position. Bloomberg reported Frazzini has told staff at Amazon that…

Unlock Venture Partners puts its portfolio in the metaverse

A Los Angeles- and Seattle-based funding agency could also be the first to place its personal portfolio web page in the metaverse. “So far as we all…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *