With studies showing that at least three-quarters of online shoppers check product and service reviews before they buy, the evaluations have become more important than ever in global commerce. But fake reviews upend the system.
In the United States, state attorneys general and a key federal agency are leading efforts to crack down on false or manipulated reviews that can lead to purchases of shoddy products or services and sometimes leave little recourse for consumers. Still, efforts to address the problem pale in comparison to the number of fake reviews and the economic damage they cause, according to recent studies from the Center for Data Innovation and the World Economic Forum.
About 4% of worldwide online reviews are fake, according to the World Economic Forum. That may not sound like much, but the organization estimates that those fake reviews cost $152 billion in online spending annually. And even if the fake reviews don’t cost consumers directly, they can influence purchasers who may choose another product based on a negative review, to the tune of $791 billion in e-commerce spending in the United States alone, the group said.
