←back to thread

Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

(blog.truestar.pro)
406 points doppio19 | 2 comments | 01 Jul 25 20:26 UTC | HN request time: 0.028s | source
Show context
dankwizard ◴[02 Jul 25 02:16 UTC] No.44439699[source]▶
It was falling behind. The dodgy stores were getting more creative and Fakespot needed to play catch up.

You've got stores that would include a $5-$20 coupon/gift card in the item in exchange for a positive review. Sure, this didn't 1:1 translate but if a user did it would look like a legitimate review.

You've got a plethora of LLMs out there just itching to GENERATE.

Then an expensive option I was suprised happened - I bought a Dyson clone vacuum cleaner off of Amazon. A few weeks later, the company emailed me and said 'We have a new model. Buy that one, leave a review, we'll refund the purchase'. So I did it. This happened about 10 more times in 2024. My outdoor shed is entirely stick vacuums.

Feel a bit dirty doing it but that's ok I've got 12 vacuums that can clean my conscience.

I think Fakespot would have difficulty with all 3 of these scenarios.

replies(19): >>44439710 #>>44439760 #>>44439818 #>>44440150 #>>44440187 #>>44440232 #>>44440258 #>>44440360 #>>44441005 #>>44441152 #>>44441234 #>>44441357 #>>44441565 #>>44441625 #>>44442564 #>>44442881 #>>44442918 #>>44443269 #>>44444404 #
dawnerd ◴[02 Jul 25 02:18 UTC] No.44439710[source]▶
Some company paid be 100 bucks to change my review to be positive so they sent the money via PayPal no problem then I changed the review to say they paid me to write a glowing review and of course Amazon ended up removing the review for being harmful to their customers
replies(10): >>44439780 #>>44439938 #>>44440026 #>>44440174 #>>44440629 #>>44440821 #>>44440973 #>>44441523 #>>44443377 #>>44445803 #
colonial ◴[02 Jul 25 03:30 UTC] No.44440026[source]▶
Amazon is awful when it comes to striking down accusatory customer reviews.

Last year I (like a fool) purchased some chunky thru-hole MOSFETs on Amazon. Lo and behold, despite the datasheets promising a few amps with 3.3V at the gate, I only got a few milliamps. Obviously counterfeit - but no matter how hard I tried or how much indirection I employed, Amazon always took down my review warning others of this verifiable fact.

replies(5): >>44440067 #>>44440161 #>>44440551 #>>44441950 #>>44443202 #
like_any_other ◴[02 Jul 25 10:17 UTC] No.44441950[source]▶
So Amazon is complicit in fraud.
replies(5): >>44442585 #>>44442702 #>>44443138 #>>44443924 #>>44447192 #
bsenftner ◴[02 Jul 25 11:52 UTC] No.44442585[source]▶
What I don't understand is why some law firm, heavy with Ivy league predators, does not eye Amazon's fraud engine as a pot of generational gold to be taken? Sure, it will take some effort, but that's a huge pot of gold just sitting in the open with this blatant fraud in broad daylight.
replies(1): >>44442704 #
soderfoo ◴[02 Jul 25 12:03 UTC] No.44442704[source]▶
There’s an old law school adage that A students become professors, B students go to work for C students.

It's similar for "shark attorneys," who will typically hail from tier 2 and 3 schools. They're the aggressive hustlers.

replies(2): >>44443130 #>>44443136 #
1. hattar ◴[02 Jul 25 12:50 UTC] No.44443130[source]▶
> There’s an old law school adage that A students become professors

If I were a law school professor, I’d probably also say that.

replies(1): >>44444111 #
2. csa ◴[02 Jul 25 14:25 UTC] No.44444111[source]▶
> If I were a law school professor, I’d probably also say that.

Or more likely a jaded B-student who has been around the block a few times.

The reason this works is that the C-students include students who have always known that their social network would facilitate them being rainmakers, while B-students are often middle-class try-hards who don’t have the right social network and don’t have the social skills to develop the right one.