Amazon has achieved a significant victory in its battle against fake reviews in Italy, following a ruling issued by the Court of Milan against a bad actor who attempted to facilitate the posting of 5-star ratings on the Amazon.it store. The ruling, the first decision handed down by a civil court in Italy, led to the immediate closure of the fake review website, Realreviews.it, and prohibited its operator from conducting similar activities in the future.
The Milan court ruling came in response to legal action taken by Amazon against Realreviews.it, which revealed how the site offered prospective reviewers a full refund for purchased products if they published and provided proof of a 5-star review. The court ruled that the website’s owner acted in violation of unfair competition laws, thereby causing harm to both Amazon and our customers.
The legal action in Italy is part of a wider ongoing campaign by Amazon to stop fake reviews globally. Last year we took action against 44 bad actors in Europe, including nine new lawsuits in Spain, Germany and France.
"The ruling of the Court of Milan marks an important milestone in our battle to protect customers from fake reviews. Our goal is to ensure that every review in Amazon’s store is trustworthy and reflects customers’ actual experiences,” said Claire O’Donnell, Amazon’s Director of Selling Partner Trust & Store Integrity. “By taking legal action against these fraudsters, Amazon is sending a clear message that we will hold these bad actors accountable.”
Federico Cavallo, Head of External Relations at Altroconsumo, the leading independent consumer organisation in Italy, said: "For many years Altroconsumo has denounced the phenomenon of abusive reviews, an illicit and harmful phenomenon that deceives and affects honest consumers. Since 2019 our investigations have highlighted issues around these ‘services’. We have initiated several actions with both the prosecutors' offices and AGCM to shut them down. We are also calling for greater clarity on the buying and selling of fake reviews on the web and social networks.”
Federico Cavallo continued: “We applaud Amazon's commitment and the first historic ruling issued by a civil court in Italy against a fake reviews site, which led to the immediate closure of the site Realreviews.it and prohibited its operator from engaging in similar activities in the future."
Product reviews are a core part of the Amazon shopping experience. Reviews provide valuable insight into the quality and performance of products and help customers make informed decisions about their purchases.
In recent years, an illicit “fake review broker” industry has emerged to exploit the value reviews bring to consumers. These brokers approach customers directly through websites, social media channels, and encrypted messaging services, soliciting them to write fake reviews in exchange for money, free products, or other incentives.
We invest significant resources to proactively stop fake reviews, including building sophisticated tools along with human expertise to protect our customers, selling partners, and store from bad actors that attempt to profit by facilitating fake reviews globally. In 2015, we filed our first lawsuit against fake review brokers and have since established global teams of lawyers, expert investigators, and analysts to continue pursuing fake review brokers through legal means, stopping fake reviews at the source.
Amazon pioneered online product reviews 25 years ago and we are committed to ensuring our reviews remain a trustworthy, insightful resource for customers. “While we are proud of our progress, we also know bad actors are constantly evolving their tactics to evade detection. Amazon will continue to protect our customers, selling partners, and store by investing in proactive tools to detect and block fake reviews, and we are determined to hold fraudsters accountable,” said Claire O’Donnell.
Learn more about Amazon’s actions to stop fake reviews at the source here.
