UK Regulator Urges Facebook, eBay to Tackle Fake Review Marketplace
June 21 2019 - 08:32AM
Dow Jones News
By Adria Calatayud
The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority has urged Facebook
Inc. (FB) and eBay Inc. (EBAY) to prevent fake and misleading
online reviews from being bought and sold on their platforms.
The competition watchdog said Friday that it isn't alleging that
Facebook or eBay are intentionally allowing such content on their
sites, but that it has found evidence of a thriving marketplace for
false, deceptive reviews that are taken into consideration by more
than three-quarters of U.K. internet users when choosing what to
buy online.
The regulator said the evidence included more than 100 eBay
listings and 26 Facebook groups where individuals offered to write
fake reviews or businesses recruited people to write misleading
reviews on popular sites.
A Facebook spokesperson said Friday that the company removed 24
of the 26 groups and pages that the CMA had flagged to the
social-media group on Thursday, having already taking a number of
them down prior to the regulator's notification.
"Fraudulent activity is not allowed on Facebook, including the
trading of fake reviews," the Facebook spokesperson said.
The company has tripled the size of its safety and security team
to 30,000 and is investing in technology to prevent the abuse of
its platform, they added.
An eBay spokesperson said the company welcomes the report from
the CMA and will work closely with the regulator in reviewing its
findings.
"We have zero tolerance for fake or misleading reviews. Listings
such as these are strictly against our policy on illegal activity
and we will act where our rules are broken," the eBay spokesperson
said.
Write to Adria Calatayud at
adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 21, 2019 08:17 ET (12:17 GMT)
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