Google has committed to addressing fake reviews more aggressively in the UK, including penalizing businesses and individuals involved in manipulating star ratings, Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Friday.
The tech giant will also add warning alerts to the profiles of businesses found using fake reviews to inflate their ratings, according to the CMA.
The CMA launched a formal investigation into Google and Amazon in 2021 over concerns that they were not adequately combating fake reviews on their platforms. The regulator noted that as much as £23 billion ($29 billion) of UK consumer spending is influenced annually by online reviews, with 89% of consumers relying on them for product or service research.
The investigation into Amazon is still ongoing. CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell stated that the changes secured from Google aim to ensure robust processes for review verification, promoting fairness for both consumers and businesses.
A Google spokesperson said the company’s collaboration with regulators worldwide, including the CMA, is part of its efforts to combat fake content and malicious actors.
From April, the CMA will gain new powers to independently determine breaches of consumer law without court intervention. The regulator has intensified scrutiny of major tech companies, recently launching investigations into Google’s search services and Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems.
However, the UK government’s appointment of a former Amazon executive as CMA chair has drawn mixed reactions from competition lawyers and industry experts, who question the implications for its approach to regulating big tech.
