Amazon.com (AMZN) Files First Lawsuit to Crackdown on Fake Product Reviews

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) is looking to crack down on fake product reviews and has taken the steps to file its first lawsuit in order to do so.

According to market reports Thursday, Amazon filed a suit against Jay Gentile, who ran buyamazonreviews.com. The site, among a series of others, offered to sell four- and five-star reviews on products for those selling the items.

In part, the suit reads: While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon’s brand ... Amazon strictly prohibits any attempt to manipulate customer reviews and actively polices its website to remove false, misleading, and inauthentic reviews ... Despite substantial efforts to stamp out the practice, an unhealthy ecosystem is developing outside of Amazon to supply inauthentic reviews ... Defendants’ businesses consist entirely of selling such reviews.

One notable name that has been hit with negative press about similar activity is Alibaba, though the company said it is also taking measures to stem the number of fake reviews posted to its website. In general, sellers will pay for fake reviews because the more popular a product is, the higher it would come in Alibaba and Alibaba-related sites rankings.

Shares of Amazon are up 0.1 percent in afternoon trading.

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