Fake Review Sting

[Reeve]

In a sting operation, the New York Attorney General caught 19 companies taking money to write fake reviews for products on websites like Yelp.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...0HJ39820130923

Do you think writing fake reviews on sites like Yelp and Urban Spoon and Amazon should be illegal, and if so, what sort of sentence should it carry?

I personally consider it fraud, but I'd call it a misdemeanor. Maybe a $50 fine per offense for people caught accepting money to write a fake review, payable by the person, not the company. Then an additional $500 per offense for the company.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Yeah that is pretty shady and low to do that. I am ok with the conditions you set. I mean I shouldn't be surprised but at the same time people shouldn't be getting away with this crap.

[smelltheglove]

In a sting operation, the New York Attorney General caught 19 companies taking money to write fake reviews for products on websites like Yelp.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...0HJ39820130923

Do you think writing fake reviews on sites like Yelp and Urban Spoon and Amazon should be illegal, and if so, what sort of sentence should it carry?

I personally consider it fraud, but I'd call it a misdemeanor. Maybe a $50 fine per offense for people caught accepting money to write a fake review, payable by the person, not the company. Then an additional $500 per offense for the company.

if it positive reviewing i dont really know tbh. i think it's shitty and deceptive, but i dont know if it should be falling under legislation - unless it is considered a form of false advertising?

if it is negative reviewing it absolutely should be punished, and punished hard imo. that type of thing can wreck a business, and should be considered slander or such

[Flame6]

Some of these companies are so large that if you could only prove a handful or fake reviews that the penalty wouldn't be high enough to stop them from doing it again. They wouldn't fine a company so high that it would go out of business just high enough to make them go Ouch.

[Vargur]

The reviewers are at fault, not the bribers.

[Forgettable]

Some of these companies are so large that if you could only prove a handful or fake reviews that the penalty wouldn't be high enough to stop them from doing it again. They wouldn't fine a company so high that it would go out of business just high enough to make them go Ouch.

Yes, but finding a company doing these shady things puts them in a bad light, which in turn makes some people stop buying from them. Even if the direct monetary loss is not substantial, the indirect losses would be a lot larger presumably.

[Kalyyn]

While it's a terrible business practice, I cannot justify punishing them for it. It's their websites, they can write whatever they want on them. I firmly believe in internet freedom, and this law would diminish that.

[Vetis]

While it's a terrible business practice, I cannot justify punishing them for it. It's their websites, they can write whatever they want on them. I firmly believe in internet freedom, and this law would diminish that.

internet freedom doesn't cover fraudulent claims that intend to mislead the public in general. Fake reviews on those sites would be the same as a fake review in a newspaper or on TV. There has to be some accountability or the whole system is pointless and should just be removed.

[Kalyyn]

internet freedom doesn't cover fraudulent claims that intend to mislead the public in general. Fake reviews on those sites would be the same as a fake review in a newspaper or on TV. There has to be some accountability or the whole system is pointless and should just be removed.

Personally, I'm willing to make that sacrifice. The government keeps trying to take more and more ground on the internet. We need to halt that advance. And I don't know where you live, but I doubt you want the US government having absolute dominion over the internet.

[Reeve]

Personally, I'm willing to make that sacrifice. The government keeps trying to take more and more ground on the internet. We need to halt that advance. And I don't know where you live, but I doubt you want the US government having absolute dominion over the internet.

The internet is just a medium. I don't want them to have total control over the medium any more than I want them to have total control over newspapers or telephony, but I DO want them to punish criminal activities, including fraud, when identifiable through warrant or in a public forum whether they occur in newsprint, telephony, or the internet.

[Drungan]

This goes for lots of places on the internet ... i know for a fact that booking.com ( a hotel booking portal ) offer the hotels 10 good reviews for x payment, i am also pretty damn sure the online fastfood ordering service we have here in denmark does the same but cant be 100% on that ... just a feeling. .

i have 0 faith in online overly positive reviews.

[lockedout]

If you didn't already know was happening...
The good thing about yelp and other review sites is that no one is paying for bad reviews.

[Roose]

Seems like puffing is all, which is completely legal. If they are negative reviews that I could see as actionable.

Do not like it at all because I use those reviews. I know this shit happens all over now in every area that allows public feedback.

[Reeve]

Seems like puffing is all, which is completely legal. If they are negative reviews that I could see as actionable.

Do not like it at all because I use those reviews. I know this shit happens all over now in every area that allows public feedback.

Puffery is done under the assumption that the person being sold to knows they're being sold by a salesperson or a company representative. This is not puffery, because it's being done under false pretenses.

- - - Updated - - -

If you didn't already know was happening...
The good thing about yelp and other review sites is that no one is paying for bad reviews.

Sure, I knew it was likely happening. I'm just glad to see it being punished.