Amazon.Com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) are in trouble after the UK regulator announced its plan to open a formal probe against them. The regulator links the two to some fake reviews. It is a matter of great concern for the two because investors and product consumers will be making a close follow-up to determine whether or not they entertained fake reviews on their sites.
The regulators attempt to restore sanity
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says that efforts are still ongoing to gather sufficient information to prove whether or not the parties mentioned above were in “contravention” to the law. It will soon get to the bottom of the matter and publicize the two companies failing to take robust measures to combat the fake reviews on their platforms. The law requires that the companies make conscious attempts geared towards consumer protection.
Efforts have been ongoing
Shoppers have, over the past, fallen victim to fake reviews, ending up purchasing substandard products. The body takes it upon itself to guard shoppers against such injustice, and it is the reason it is focusing on the two business behemoths.
The body exacts the move following an initial CMA investigation undertaken back in 2020. The move was aimed at probing several platforms and their internal system processes. The target was to identify how the different companies/businesses moved about handling the fake reviews.
The Chief executive of CMA, Andrea Coscelli, opines, “Our worry is that millions of online shoppers could be misled by reading fake reviews and then spending their money based on those recommendations. Equally, it’s simply not fair if some businesses can fake 5-star reviews to give their products or services the most prominence, while law-abiding businesses lose out.”
Analysts are still grappling to understand how Amazon systems could not prevent or stop a select section of sellers from manipulating listings and Products.
