British businesses caught purchasing Google reviews

Various British firms have been caught buying five-star reviews. A group has called on the relevant authorities to investigate claims. 

Google has been accused of failing to control fake reviews 

Google has failed to do enough to fight buying fake reviews in its financial listings, and they must be regulated by a watchdog that will check the validity of the reviews. A consumer group has conducted a research where it set up a phony firm and tried to purchase fake five-star feedback as part of its investigation.

While doing so, it has come to discover that there are many shams reviews which are bought by many English firms. These firms include health officials and stockbrokers. However, Google has said that it has innovated some high tech which will fight against this problem, but it will take some time. The competition and market authority have looked into review sites to determine how they are doing in feedback generation. 

Commission and market agency threatens Google and other review sites. 

The commission had threatened to enforce severe penalties against platforms that do not manage their problems and come short in their responsibilities. There have been other studies that suggest that 50% of people who read feedback use the Google platform. While conducting the investigation, the research team created a listing and searched for firms advertising for these top reviews. 

The prices vary though, as it ranges between $100 to $160 per review. Security experts have said while Google can do better, there are issues to be which can't be solved easily. According to Sam Kingston, who works for the Data initiative, most top firms use third parties to get top reviews which will attract many customers. Also, unless there is a good algorithm that can separate fake reviews and original, then stopping it can be tough. He said Google and other top review sites like Top pilot can do better to reduce these issues.