Reviews platform Trustpilot has confirmed plans to step up enforcement against businesses that repeatedly break the rules by soliciting fake and misleading online reviews.
The approach will see litigation filed against a number of ‘bad actor’ businesses abusing online reviews in an effort to mislead consumers.
Trustpilot has historically invested in resources to uphold the integrity of its platform and in 2020 alone removed more than 2.2 million fake reviews from its site.
This totalled 5.7% of reviews submitted to the platform that year.
Improvements in automated fraud, enforcement and anomaly detection technologies, which safeguard the platform from misuse, have also been introduced following investment in a growing research and development centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The litigation strategy is the next phase in Trustpilot’s commitment to protecting and promoting trust online – including tackling fake and misleading reviews.
The process will see the platform issue legal proceedings against repeat offenders, seeking orders to block them from soliciting fake reviews and for recovery of damages. It has also committed to donating proceeds from litigation to organisations which work to protect consumers from misinformation online.
Carolyn Jameson, Chief Trust Officer at Trustpilot, commented: “Consumers rely heavily on reviews to make more informed and confident purchasing decisions each and every day. Protecting and promoting trust is fundamental to Trustpilot’s mission.”
“Whilst the vast majority of businesses use reviews constructively to help get them closer to their customers, we’re prepared to do everything within our power to clamp down on the small minority who do not behave as they should, and instead use fake and misleading reviews to take advantage of consumers – often those consumers who are particularly vulnerable.”
The platform has also made strides to increase consumer protection by introducing and placing warning banners on the profiles of businesses which are subject to regulatory attention.
