Fake Review Groups On Facebook Still Active: Which?

(RTTNews) - Fake review groups are still very active on Facebook more than a month after a UK regulator urged the social media giant to act against these groups, an investigation by consumer group Which? found.

In June, the UK Competition and Markets Authority or CMA wrote to Facebook and eBay, asking them to take steps to remove content related to fake product reviews and also prevent them. Both companies had agreed to it.

Which? said its investigation found that eBay has taken steps to address the issue of fake reviews. The consumer group found just one listing on eBay advertising five-star reviews, after the CMA's request.

However, the investigation into Facebook activity by Which? found more than 55,000 new posts in July across just nine Facebook groups trading fake reviews, which were generating "hundreds or even thousands" of posts per day. Which? noted that the true figure is likely to be higher.

Which? also found that Facebook groups incentivizing fake product reviews significantly increased in membership over a 30-day period, with one group's membership tripling over the period. Another group's membership doubled to more than 5,000.

According to the consumer group, this could be due to a crackdown by Facebook on some of the groups reported by CMA, causing people to be funneled into other similar groups.

"We looked in detail at 10, all of which include the word 'Amazon' in the group name. Each of these had increased their membership through July, but some saw a particularly sharp rise," Which? Report says.

Commenting on the findings, Natalie Hitchins, Which's head of products and services, said, "Our latest findings demonstrate that Facebook has systematically failed to take action while its platform continues to be plagued with fake review groups generating thousands of posts a day."

In response to the findings, Facebook said it has removed nine out of the ten groups reported by Which? and was investigating the remaining group. The social media giant added it is continuing to improve the tools used to proactively prevent this kind of abuse.