Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleOnline reviews can help shoppers decide what to buy, but business owners and consumer watchdogs say some of them are not real and are confusing customers, according to Global News Canada.
Halifax cafe owner sees the effects
Charlotte Ashley runs Trident Booksellers and Cafe in Halifax. She says fake reviews have led customers to ask for items the business does not carry.
“People are disappointed and that’s not the kind of visit that we want them to have,” Ashley said, according to Global News.
She pointed to one Google review that gave the business five stars but described a mushroom quesadilla, which the cafe does not serve. Ashley said she does not know what caused the fake reviews to appear on her page or what the motive was.
A market operating “in plain sight”
Fake reviews are not new. A report by the Canadian Anti-monopoly Project shows there is a market for them on Google and Amazon. The report says they harm three groups:
- Consumers, because the reviews obscure the true quality of a product or service.
- Honest sellers, who are put at a clear disadvantage.
- Platforms, if consumers lose trust in them.
Emily Osborne, a fellow at the project and a policy researcher at the Canada Shield Institute, said a substantial market for fake reviews is operating in plain sight. She said it affects customers on all sorts of platforms.
Osborne said fake reviewers can be recruited in various ways, including through social media groups. A third-party seller could ask reviewers to post a five-star review, potentially in exchange for a free product. She noted that companies such as Amazon have acted to remove fake reviews.
She also told Global News that Canadian policymakers have room to require better enforcement against fraud on platforms and to hold them more accountable.
Cheap, easy and widespread
Some social media posts from “professional review providers” list prices, with some offering 100 reviews for $180.
Kay Dean, a U.S.-based consumer watchdog and former federal prosecutor, called the marketplace for fake reviews “immense.” She started Fake Review Watch, a website and YouTube channel where she posts her investigations and research. She said she believes the problem distorts the small business economy globally.
Dean said her investigations found businesses bartering and trading reviews with each other on social media. She also found marketers and search engine optimization companies with “networks of profiles” that post negative reviews. In her words, fake reviews are very easy and inexpensive to obtain.
The exact number of fake reviews online is hard to determine. A 2023 U.K. government report found that 11 to 15 per cent of all reviews on e-commerce platforms for three common product categories were likely fake. Those categories typically included consumer electronics, home and kitchen, and sports and outdoors.
The same report found that well-written fake reviews can distort consumer decision making, with buyers 3.1 per cent more likely to purchase a product.
How shoppers can protect themselves
Shoppers can take precautions, including being cautious when a product or business has “flawless” ratings. Experts say the best advice comes through word of mouth.
Source: Global News Canada
Harnaik Singh Rathor is the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of StudioX News Canada, Canada's multilingual digital news network serving multilingual diaspora communities across Canada. With a background in media production, public relations, and multicultural communications, he founded StudioX Film and TV Corporation to bridge the gap between mainstream Canadian media and the country's diverse immigrant communities. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), RTDNA Canada, CPRS Vancouver, NEPMCC, and the Canadian Freelance Union (Unifor). Based in Surrey, British Columbia. | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harnaiksinghrathor/ | Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/harnaiksinghrathor | Email: editor@studioxnews.ca
