Google Play cracks down on fake reviews

With so much emphasis on reviews to inform consumer purchases, it’s no wonder that deception has entered the fray.

That’s why Google announced that it will crack down on misleading or fake reviews in the Google Play store.

The company revealed that it has improved its process for identifying and removing fake reviews, claiming it’s now quicker and more accurate in accomplishing this.

Google made an initial announcement on the subject in October, where it identified the need for a better methodology:

From time to time, we observe instances of developers attempting to manipulate the placement of their apps through illegitimate means like fraudulent installs, fake reviews, and incentivised ratings. These attempts not only violate the Google Play Developer Policy, but also harm our community of developers by hindering their chances of being discovered or recommended through our systems. Ultimately, they put the end users at risk of making wrong decisions based on inaccurate, unauthentic information.

It’s the second time a tech giant has taken on the problem of fake reviews.

In October 2015, Amazon sued more than 1,000 people for proffering fake reviews. In October 2016, the company axed incentivized reviews.

Venture Beat reported:

With customer reviews playing a large role in users’ app selection process, and with the Play store’s ability to filter by ratings, there exists a good deal of incentive for developers or their marketing partners to game the system. The problem affects all web merchants, and Amazon has recently tightened its review criteria by limiting the number of reviews that non-verified buyers can write per week.

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Google hasn’t followed Amazon’s legal step, but its new tools will allow for more vigilance when it comes to fake reviews.

The company has reiterated that all apps in its Play Store must abide by the developer policy that it has put forth. That means all reviews must come from people who have used the application in question.

As fake news stories became such a contentious issue during the recent presidential election, it seems fitting that Google would take this hard stance.

What do you think of the move, PR Daily readers?

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