Amazon expands review crackdown to target influencer product testimonials

The news: Amazon is entering a new phase of review fraud crackdowns with eyes on a new target: social media influencers. The tech giant started sending influencers a questionnaire to provide information about product testimonials they’ve posted on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, per Bloomberg.

The questionnaire probes influencers on their interactions with sellers and products. One specific question asks, “Can you describe the work you’ve done for this seller as an influencer (e.g. posted videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram etc)?”

It isn’t clear how Amazon determined where to distribute the questionnaires, how it will use the information it collects, or whether the campaign will prove effective, as Amazon has no recourse if influencers fail to respond.

A long-running battle: Amazon has been waging a highly publicized war over review fraud for several years.

It employs teams that focus on uncovering and investigating review brokers and uses machine-learning models to analyze reviews for fraudulent patterns and suspicious activity prior to publication.

Amazon took legal action against more than 150 bad actors across the US, China, and Europe in 2023. In late October, the retailer and Google filed parallel lawsuits against Bigboostup.com, a site that reportedly sold fake product reviews for Amazon listings and fraudulent reviews for business listings on Google Search and Maps. Amazon’s efforts also enabled it to proactively block more than 250 million suspected fake reviews last year.

Amazon wants to give consumers confidence that the reviews they see are based on actual experiences.

• That’s important, considering 78% of consumers say customer reviews influence their purchase decisions, per an Aftership consumer survey.
• Another 31% say the same about influencers.

Zooming out: Amazon’s efforts dovetail with an October Federal Trade Commission rule that bans the sale and purchase of fake reviews or testimonials, as well as prohibits companies from incentivizing customers to write positive or negative reviews. The rule allows the FTC to seek financial penalties from violators.

Why it matters: Amazon sellers can’t afford to take the retail giant’s efforts lightly given its aggressive stance against review fraud. If Amazon finds influencers failed to disclose their relationships with sellers, those merchants could find themselves suspended from the platform.

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