Facebook Removes 16,000 Groups Involved in Fake Review Trading

Following renewed scrutiny from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Facebook has taken action against the sale of inauthentic reviews on its platform, eliminating 16,000 groups dedicated to this practice. This intervention represents a significant escalation in efforts to curb the proliferation of misleading content.

Ongoing Pressure from the CMA

The CMA initiated investigations into the issue of fake reviews back in 2018, subsequently urging tech companies like eBay and Facebook to address the problem. Initial pressure in 2019 led to some action, but the regulator deemed it insufficient.

Last year, both companies committed to enhanced measures to combat this deceptive trade, particularly after the CMA discovered that Facebook-owned Instagram was also a prominent location for such activities.

A Substantial Increase in Action

The current response from Facebook is markedly larger in scope than previous efforts. In the prior action, only 188 groups were removed and 24 user accounts were disabled. The number of groups eliminated in this latest sweep is substantially higher.

Update: The focus of the CMA’s efforts has been on dismantling groups facilitating the trade of deceptive reviews, rather than solely targeting individual user accounts. Removing groups is considered a more impactful strategy, as suspended users can easily create new profiles.

When contacted for comment, Facebook provided a statement rather than directly addressing specific inquiries.

The social media giant has faced consistent criticism from the CMA regarding its handling of fake review trading across its various platforms.

Changes to Facebook’s Systems

The regulator stated that Facebook has implemented changes to its systems for “identifying, removing, and preventing the trading of false or misleading reviews” to ensure adherence to prior commitments.

The delay in taking more decisive action remains unclear. Facebook attributed some of the challenges to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to remote work. (Despite increased expenses, Facebook’s overall revenue rose in 2020.)

Specific Measures Implemented by Facebook

According to the CMA, the changes implemented by Facebook include:

• Suspending or banning users who consistently create Facebook groups and Instagram profiles that promote, encourage, or enable fake and misleading reviews.
• Introducing automated processes to improve the detection and removal of this type of content.
• Making it more difficult for users to locate groups and profiles involved in the trade of fake and misleading reviews through Facebook’s search functionality.
• Establishing dedicated processes to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of these changes and prevent future occurrences.

It is questionable why Facebook hadn’t already been suspending repeat offenders, unless its initial response was merely a superficial attempt to comply.

CMA’s Perspective

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, commented, “Facebook has a responsibility to actively prevent the trading of such content on its platforms. While the company has made significant changes following our intervention, it is concerning that it took over a year to address these issues.”

“We will continue to closely monitor Facebook, including its Instagram operations. Should we determine that it is not fulfilling its commitments, we will not hesitate to take further action,” Coscelli added.

Current State of Fake Review Groups

A recent search on Facebook revealed fewer overtly suspicious groups trading in fake reviews compared to previous checks in 2019 and 2020. However, many results led to private groups, making it difficult to verify the content being exchanged.

Groups offering Amazon reviews for other European markets, such as France and Spain, were also discovered. In one public group targeting Amazon Spain, a user offered payment via PayPal for a review, indicating a potential disparity in enforcement across different regions.