Amazon is getting serious (again) about the presence of bogus reviews on its platform, but is not looking at companies engaged in the practice exclusively any more.
The Internet retailer has reportedly sued 1,144 people who used gig marketplace Fiverr to sell fake Amazon reviews. Amazon only mentioned the review sellers Fiverr usernames, but Amazon could ultimately get their real names as well as the names of their clients.
What that means is that if you've purchased fake or manufactured reviews on Fiverr, you could be getting a letter from Amazon's legal team very soon.
The volume of sellers Amazon is targeting indicates just how significant the problem is for the ecommerce giant. Amazon filed suit against the operators of several websites in April that offered the ability to purchase fake product reviews (most of which are no longer in operation).
Reviews are obviously important for consumers in the decision making process and Amazon clearly has a vested interest in ensuring the information it features is as accurate as possible. While the majority of reviews on Amazon are genuine, merchants engaged in this practice should be aware that their accounts could be terminated for this behavior and could be the subject of legal action.
