Amazon commits to stepping up fake-review fight after UK watchdog’s investigation

Category: Technology/Innovations

Listening

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Unlocking Word Meanings

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.

  1. beef up / bif ʌp / (phrasal v.) – to make something stronger, bigger, or better
    Example:

    After the recent issues, the company decided to beef up its online security by adding stronger passwords and new software.


  2. phony / ˈfoʊ ni / (adj.) – fake or not real; made to look real to trick people
    Example:

    Jess made a phony excuse for not doing her homework, but the teacher knew she was lying.


  3. rogue / roʊɡ / (adj.) – behaving in a way that is not expected or not normal, often causing problems or harm
    Example:

    The police were looking for a rogue driver who ignored all traffic laws and caused several accidents on the highway.


  4. sanction / ˈsæŋk ʃən / (v.) – to punish someone officially for doing something wrong
    Example:

    The company has a clear policy to sanction employees who miss too many work days without a good reason.


  5. pull the wool over (someone's) eyes / pʊl ðə wʊl ˈoʊ vər aɪz / (idiom) – to trick someone, especially by hiding the truth from him/her
    Example:

    The politician tried to pull the wool over the voters’ eyes with many promises he knew he couldn’t keep.


Article

Read the text below.

Amazon has pledged to beef up the fight against fake reviews, Britain’s competition regulator said after an investigation into whether big online platforms are doing enough to crack down on phony online ratings for products and services.


The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it secured the “undertakings” from Amazon, after getting a similar agreement earlier this year from Google to clamp down on rogue reviews plaguing the internet.


The company promised to strengthen its existing systems for fighting fake reviews. It will also tackle catalog abuse, which involves sellers boosting star ratings for a product by hijacking good reviews from a completely different one.


As an example, a shopper might come across a pair of headphones with a five-star rating. But, after looking closer, most of the reviews are for a mobile phone charger, the watchdog said.


As part of its commitments, Amazon has agreed to sanction anyone caught using these tactics. Businesses could be banned from selling on the Amazon website, and users posting fake reviews could be banned from posting them, the CMA said.


The watchdog’s chief executive, Sarah Cardell, said that so many people shop on Amazon and “star ratings and reviews have a huge impact on their choices.”


Amazon’s pledges “mean people can make decisions with greater confidence—knowing that those who seek to pull the wool over their eyes will be swiftly dealt with.”


The pledges apply to Amazon’s U.K. website. The company said in a statement that it has zero tolerance for fake reviews and that the measures build on Amazon’s existing efforts to tackle them.


“We invest significant resources to proactively stop fake reviews ever appearing on our store, including on expert human investigators and machine learning models that analyze thousands of data points to detect risk,” the company said.


The CMA opened its investigations into Amazon and Google in 2021 to examine whether the two companies broke U.K. consumer law by failing to protect shoppers. It began looking into phony reviews on some big websites amid the boom in online shopping fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.


This article was provided by The Associated Press.


Viewpoint Discussion

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.

Discussion A

  • Amazon is working to fight fake reviews because many people use star ratings and reviews to decide what to buy online. If phony reviews are becoming common online, do you think it’s okay to remove this feature from online shopping sites? Why or why not? How important do you think online reviews are? What do you think are the potential consequences for consumers and businesses if fake reviews become widespread? Discuss.
  • How much do you trust online reviews and star ratings when you are shopping or choosing a service? Why? What do you think are some signs that an online review might not be real or trustworthy? Discuss.

Discussion B

  • The article says star ratings and reviews have a “huge impact” on people’s choices. Besides reviews, what other things influence your decision when you are buying something new (ex. brand, recommendations from friends)? Which is more important to you: what other customers say in reviews, or what the company itself says about its product? Why? Discuss.
  • How important is it for online marketplaces to be fair places for businesses to sell their products? Do you think consumers benefit when online marketplaces are fair to businesses? Why or why not? Discuss.