Paid reviews have been on the front page for a while here in the UK, such as being a topic on chat shows, small news items and stories etc. especially around the major shopping periods when the topic of fake reviews raises its head. This changes things though as it is talking about making such reviews illegal. Once one country starts this, then others tend to follow suit. "Websites hosting consumer reviews will have to take reasonable steps to check they are genuine." - many already do this (or should) but when there are legal consequences then that changes things quite a bit.
It's first time for me but sure the consequences aren't something anyone can fully predict. It's a case study nonetheless before the law spreads to other countries around the world.
This is not about just Big G though but more about those 'others' you mention - usually large, medium and smaller businesses that may be dipping their toes into buying the reviews. It's about buyers being tricked/misled into thinking reviews are real, going on to buy products and/or services that do not match those 'positive' reviews and all of those reviews becoming a breach of law in the UK. I agree that others say they have that intent to remove fake or incentivised reviews, but this is now soon to become part of law itself.
I think the same, as with SMM services, very hard to prove the origin unless it is directly advertised that you do it as its all sent via traffic and proxies. What they could do I would think is actively remove fake reviews through some sort of verification.
Invoice for random buyers, might act as proof. Or chat conversation before posting reviews. Everything is so complicated and lengthy , only people who aren't using such services , don't know about such upcoming laws will be grabbed.
I think that's a key question and one that won't be fully answered I imagine.
The details are yet to be discussed and I am sure even when they are discussed and put into law, they still won't be that clear. Enforcement is always difficult and any test case would be interesting. I think the premise is that businesses/individuals/sellers would be less likely to consider fake reviews etc. if there is a potential legal consequence. Sometimes the bark is worse than the bite.
Agree. As I replied to another comment, the fear of being caught could put people off buying reviews (or selling them) in the first place - even if it's difficult to be proven using or selling those services. That verification is key - having verified reviews, as we know, is still not fully invincible so it will be interesting to see how things change...........
Real problem is with cross border sellers. How these laws will be implemented on them. Only thing is black hat IM will become more worse with the time.
Again - I don't think any price hike would be worth such a risk - especially for small businesses and individuals.
Good point - I imagine that if you are, say, a UK seller or business then you would not risk using review services when the penalty can be very high. When you are a cross-border seller, then that would be interesting to see how things work out but would a person risk their business and sales for those positive reviews? If you're selling via an online platform and the risk is with the platform, say AZN, then I imagine they will become even more risk-averse when it comes to reviews - such as using more stringent verified methods. All a theory of course!
I think that's the problem - 'real' has always equalled 'positive' when it comes to reviews. The aim of any seller is to make them look as 'real' as possible but that is not enough. I know when I look at reviews I always try and look at what the mix is (positive vs negative), the language used and if they are verified or not. Being part of the BHQ community helps with that of course
but to the average person, those buying the end product, having been led to believe a product or service is better than it actually is has been a problem for a while, in the UK and other countries. It was only a matter of time before a country put a law into effect that put the problem, and consequences, films on the shoulder of businesses using review services. That's the twist in this tale - would you risk a fine and reputation of your business or loss of income when booted off the major selling stores? Rhetorical question of course.