UK Regulator Opens Formal Probe Into Amazon, Google Over Fake Reviews

The British regulator said it'll gather further information to determine whether Google and Amazon may have broken consumer law by taking insufficient action to protect shoppers from fake reviews.

Britain's competition regulator on Friday opened a formal investigation into Amazon and Alphabet Inc's Google over concerns the tech giants have not done enough to combat fake reviews on their sites. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it will now gather further information to determine whether the firms may have broken consumer law by taking insufficient action to protect shoppers from fake reviews. The move comes after an initial CMA investigation, which opened in May 2020, and assessed several platforms' internal systems and processes for identifying and dealing with fake reviews. The regulator said it was also concerned that Amazon's systems had failed adequately to prevent and deter some sellers from manipulating product listings, through for example co-opting positive reviews from other products.