After getting frustrated reading through hundreds of product reviews on Amazon, while trying to figure out which model or brand to select, it’s even more disconcerting to find out that many of those product reviews are fake.

Amazon is suing administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups that recruit people to write reviews on Amazon. It’s not suing Facebook or its parent company Meta. 

Amazon posted a statement on its website that it was suing the Facebook groups for misleading and incentivized reviews in the US, Europe and Japan. 

The e-commerce giant has been complaining about phony reviews for years. It’s a problem for other web vendors as well. Amazon has sued people that were publishing fake testimonials in the past. Regulators and lawmakers say the situation is out of control and Amazon and other retailers aren’t doing enough. Last year, regulators in the UK did an investigation about whether Amazon and Google were responding to the problem. 

Amazon said that, for example, one Facebook group, called “Amazon Product Review,” has more than 43,000 members. Facebook closed down the group this year, but the page was able to rename itself and re-emerge. 

Amazon says that since 2020 it has alerted Meta about more than 10,000 fake review groups. Meta has been working to close them down and has removed about half of them.

Why does Amazon care about fake reviews? 

The company says it wants to protect consumers who may purchase products based on fake reviews. This protects not only the consumer, but Amazon’s reputation as well.

Why isn’t Amazon suing Meta?

Because there is an internet law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It allows Facebook (and other internet companies) to host third-party content without being held legally responsible for that content. If Facebook were held responsible for all the content, including advertising, on its platform, it would be in more hot water than it already is. 

Of course, sellers can benefit, and often seek, fake reviews. Sellers seek out brokers and groups that peddle phony reviews for money. The brokers get people to order a product, and write a good review. 

Amazon says that it has 12,000 employees who work full time to weed out fake reviews.

So, the next time you have your head spinning reading reviews on your next choice of a good vacuum cleaner, keep that in mind.