Google、偽レビュー対策で英国規制当局と提携

グーグルは、星の評価を増やすために自社のレビュープラットフォーム上で偽のレビューを利用する英国企業に対して、より厳しい措置を講じる予定だ。 The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Friday that Google has agreed to improve its process for detecting and removing fake reviews, and will take action against businesses and users who post fake reviews.

Under the new agreement, Google will take several measures against businesses found to be using false reviews, including suspending their ability to add new reviews.企業が不審なレビュー活動を繰り返し行った場合、Google は少なくとも 6 か月間、既存のレビューをすべて削除します。

In addition, Google will prominently mark "warning tips" on the profile pages of businesses that use false reviews to help consumers better identify potentially misleading reviews. For individual users who repeatedly post false or misleading reviews on UK business pages, Google will ban them from posting reviews and delete their review history, regardless of where they are located.

Over the next three years, Google will need to report its implementation status to the CMA regularty to ensure compliance with the agreement's terms.

“The improvements we have secured from Google ensure that robust processes are in place so people can feel confident about reviews and make the best choice,” CMA chief executive Sarah Caddell said in a statement. 「これは企業にとっても消費者にとっても同様に公平であり、私たちは業界がその先例に従うことを奨励します。」

We noted that Google had made similar adjustments to the review feature in its map service last year, emphasizing that user-contributed content "should reflect the real experience of a place or business."ただし、これらの調整は世界中に適用され、現時点ではすべてのプラットフォームのレビューの改善は英国にのみ適用されるようです。

The review policy adjustment stems from the CMA's investigation into Google and Amazon in 2021. The CMA suspected that the two companies had failed to combat fake reviews on their platforms effectively and may have violated consumer protection laws. CMAは、アマゾンに対する捜査は現在も進行中であり、最新の進捗状況は「やがて」発表すると述べた。