Amazon Sues Over 10,000 Facebook Group Admins

Amazon has filed a lawsuit against administrators of over 10,000 Facebook groups that coordinate cash or goods for buyers willing to post bogus product reviews.

The Facebook groups with a global reach served to recruit would-be fake reviewers and operated in Amazon’s online storefronts in the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, and Italy. Amazon has also reported over 10,000 Facebook groups which has been also effective as the social media platform shut down multiple review brokers.

Amazon has been suing people for this stuff since all the way back in 2015.

The company named one group, “Amazon Product Review,” which boasted more than 40,000 members until Facebook removed it earlier in 2022. That one evaded detection through the time-honored, AI-eluding strategy of swapping a few letters around in phrases that would get it busted.

Amazon claims that it will leverage the discovery process to ‘identify bad actors and remove fake reviews commissioned by these fraudsters that haven’t already been detected by Amazon’s advanced technology, expert investigators, and continuous monitoring.’

Despite the monitoring, thousands of illegitimate reviews push products across the online retailer’s digital storefront every day, all around the world. Regulators are, although, and they are bound to light a little fire under everyone’s favorite online shopping monolith.

Amazon has been plagued with reviews that artificially boost product ratings for years. A Washington Post investigation back in 2018 found that obviously fake reviews dominated some product categories, including bluetooth headphones and health supplements.