Amazon is going after reviewers leaving false product feedback on their website. The Guardian is reporting that the E-Commerce giant has just launched a lawsuit against 1,000 anonymous people; accusing them of misleading customers with their fake reviews.
The court report states:
"Amazon is bringing this action to protect its customers from this misconduct, by stopping defendants and uprooting the ecosystem in which they participate."
1,114 defendants, all named John Doe, were listed in the suit.
According to Amazon the false review service was hawked on the website fiverr; an online job market that allows users to buy and sell services. Writing a fake Amazon review could cost as little as $5. Amazon notes that Fiverr itself is not being sued because their terms of use strictly indicates that the peddling of paid-for reviews is strictly prohibited.
"We have worked closely together to remove services that violate our terms of use, and respond promptly to any reports of inappropriate content," said Channing Barringer, a spokesman for Fiverr in a statement. "We facilitate close to a million transactions a month, across more than 100 categories of services, such as graphic design, copywriting, voiceover, multimedia editing and coding. These services are being consumed by businesses who depend on them to thrive."
Back in April, Amazon launched a similar complaint aimed at websites selling fake reviews.
That complaint read:
"A very small minority of sellers and manufacturers attempts to gain unfair competitive advantages by creating false, misleading, and inauthentic customer reviews for their products on Amazon.com."
"While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon's brand."
