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FTC's rule banning fake online reviews goes into effect

(abcnews.go.com)
376 points indus | 1 comments | 22 Oct 24 15:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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onemoresoop ◴[22 Oct 24 16:13 UTC] No.41915791[source]▶
Good intentions by FTC. Unfortunately nearly impossible to enforce. It's almost like FTC banning junk/spam emails. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how this will be enforced and some big players will end up paying large fines. I think Amazon has to get their poop together and fix the comingling product reviews and other ways through their sieve that make this behavior rampant.
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diggan ◴[22 Oct 24 16:16 UTC] No.41915831[source]▶
How is it impossible to enforce?

Bunch of people report Amazon as being rife with fake reviews. FTC puts together some sort of working group that does some research to figure out if it's true. If it's true, they reach out to Amazon telling them to fix it after handing them a fine. After a while, they verify that Amazon implemented sufficient safe-guards against fake reviews.

Sure, it wouldn't get rid of all fake reviews, but surely it'd be better than the current approach of doing absolutely nothing, no?

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onemoresoop ◴[22 Oct 24 17:36 UTC] No.41916651[source]▶
How can you enforce people giving fake reviews for things they bought? Bring the review police? How can you prove they're given free products to review them positively? Don't get me wrong, I wish online reviews weren't utterly broken but it seems like business wants it this way. I certainly hope this will get fixed and not jump to the next loophole.
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1. bluGill ◴[22 Oct 24 19:49 UTC] No.41917997{3}[source]▶
It isn't hard - you can't get everyone, but find a few influences who you "know" are doing this. Then make them aware they are being investigated - even if you don't have enough evidence to convict that they are aware they could be in trouble will make them stop. Or better yet, tell them you are gathering evidence, but if they cooperate with the investigation you will let them off - then they give you a copy of all the illegal communication trying to buy their good reviews: go after the corporations buying illegal reviews.

Remember you don't need to get everyone doing this. Even a few cases that your get on the nightly news will be enough to stop a large majority of fraud. You just need to get enough that everyone else decides not to do this.