Trustpilot strongly supports proposals to deter fake online reviews

2 March, 2016 – New York – London – Melbourne – Copenhagen – Berlin – Trustpilot, the global online review community, is eager to see the UK Government’s proposals to crack down on organised fake reviews.

According to a recent call for evidence from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, tighter legislation could follow to prohibit writing or commissioning fake positive reviews. This would mean that there could be ramifications for companies using fake reviews to boost their profile or impact their competitors.  

“Trustpilot welcomes the UK’s investigation to potentially strengthen consumer protection laws. We have a zero-tolerance policy toward fake reviews as well as advanced, customised detection software designed to weed out questionable reviews. Our Compliance Team works alongside the software and investigates any reported misuse. Our guidelines and terms of use are also clear on our position about any kind of review manipulation,” said James Westlake, VP of Trustpilot UK.

Tackling fake reviews head-on

The debate surrounding fake reviews is an industry-wide concern, and inquiries into companies that write and solicit fake online reviews are not new. Last year, a report from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) demonstrated that fake reviews potentially threaten the transparency of online reviews in the UK. And a recent CMA investigation resulted in a UK marketing firm agreeing to cease writing fake online reviews and remove those already posted. 

“Trust is key to the review sector and we know the industry has been impacted by a few bad apples, which affects all of us. While we’re comfortable with our processes and the impact of fake reviews on our site is minimal, this is a trend we wish to tackle head-on at Trustpilot. We wish to shine a light on the problem and regularly assist the CMA and Trading Standards to help address it.

“If the Government is looking into these issues, we would support the review wholeheartedly. It is our belief that the industry should stand together and help minimise the impact of fake reviews and any other review manipulation on consumers and businesses,” said Westlake.

About Trustpilot

Trustpilot is a global, online review community that builds trust and transparency between consumers and businesses. Currently boasting more than 18 million consumer reviews of 120,000 businesses, Trustpilot produces a TrustScore for businesses based on recent reviews. Trustpilot’s community is live in 27 countries and more than 10,000 consumers sign up to Trustpilot every day. The platform also helps businesses generate insights through customer review data analytics. This can be used to continuously improve business operations, increase customer satisfaction and drive innovation. By enabling businesses to engage directly with customers, Trustpilot aims to set new global standards in consumer to business dialogue.

Trustpilot has customers in 65 countries and has developed strong positions in Denmark, Sweden, UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the US. With offices in Copenhagen, London, New York, Berlin and Melbourne, Trustpilot’s 500+ employees represent 40 different nationalities.