Amazon suing over 1,000 over fake reviews

PanARMENIAN.Net - Amazon is suing over 1,000 people for allegedly providing fake reviews, Digital Spy reports.

The lawsuit was filed in the US on Friday (October 16) against 1,114 defendants who the retail giant claims are paid as little as $5 on global marketplace website Fiverr.com for positive reviews.

Amazon said that they feel its brand reputation is being tarnished by the reviews (via Bloomberg).

"While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon's brand," they stated.

The defendants are identified as John Does 1 to 1,114 in the lawsuit. Amazon said it conducted an extensive investigation, including communicating with people on Fiverr and purchasing fake customer reviews.

Amazon noted that the lawsuit isn't targeted at Fiverr, adding that taking away individual listings doesn't solve the root cause of the issue.

A Fiverr spokesperson said: "We have worked closely together [with Amazon] to remove services that violate our terms of use, and respond promptly to any reports of inappropriate content.

"We facilitate close to a million transactions a month across more than 100 categories of services, such as graphic design, copywriting, voiceover, multimedia editing and coding. These services are being consumed by businesses who depend on them to thrive."

The lawsuit follows an earlier action in April when Amazon sued websites that sold fake reviews.