Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor form coalition against “fake reviews”

05-11-23

Some of the travel industry's largest companies have joined with other major players that rely on online customer reviews to launch a global coalition for trusted reviews to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions.

The coalition includes Booking.com, Expedia Group and Tripadvisor, which have helped organize the initiative. The travel companies are joined by Amazon, employment and recruiting website Glassdoor and business review website Trustpilot.

"Consumer and partner trust in our platforms and businesses is a priority for the members of this coalition, who have agreed to join together to fight fake reviews online," said Becky Foley, vice president of trust and safety at Tripadvisor. "To further maintain the credibility and authenticity of reviews on our platforms, our goal is to make it increasingly difficult for fraudulent actors who attempt to deceive our customers to operate online."

The companies met in October 2022 in San Francisco at a conference organized by Tripadvisor. Experts from government, academia and industry discussed common challenges and possible approaches to detecting fake reviews or "fake reviews." The conference ended with the establishment of a formal coalition, which will meet again in Brussels on December 5-6 for a second conference, hosted by Amazon.

"Customer reviews are an important part of the shopping experience, and the goal of this coalition is to ensure that all reviews reflect real customer experiences," said Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President of Global Seller Partner Services at Amazon.

"Customer reviews are an important part of the shopping experience, and the goal of this coalition is to ensure that all reviews reflect real customer experiences," said Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President of Global Seller Partner Services at Amazon.

The group has agreed to focus on key areas to protect consumers and partners from fake reviews, including:

Industry alignment. Development of common standards and definitions for use across the industry on what constitutes a fake review and other nomenclature and content moderation measures.

Sharing best practices. Defining best practices for hosting online reviews and sharing information on the updated content moderation process and methods of detecting fake reviews.

Information exchange. Exchange of information on how fraudulent actors operate, such as companies selling fake reviews to companies seeking to unfairly and improperly enhance their reputation.

Advocacy. Collaborate with academics and public policy makers to promote the benefits to consumers of review content and support industry efforts to prevent fake reviews from being published.

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"Combating these operators, particularly those attempting to sell fake reviews to businesses looking to enhance their online reputation, will be an immediate area of focus," added Tripadvisor's Foley. "These actors often operate out of jurisdictions with a legal framework to crack down on fraudulent activity, which makes robust cooperation all the more important."

In April, Tripadvisor revealed that about 4% of its 30 million reviews were deemed fake or fraudulent in 2022. The company said its detection process uncovered 72% of submissions before they were posted on the platform, an increase of 5 percentage points from its most recent reporting rate in 2020.

In an effort to curb the market for fake reviews, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in June proposed a set of rules that, if passed, could carry fines of up to $50,000 each time a consumer sees a fake review.

"It's very important to deter this practice in advance, so that people or companies that engage in it know that they can pay a very high price," Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told the Washington Post at the time.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group was among the consumer advocacy groups calling for stricter rules, noting that without a more transparent marketplace consumers had no way to distinguish legitimate reviews from fake ones.

"Not only does this hurt consumers who are trying to make informed purchasing decisions, but fake reviews also hurt honest businesses that make sure their online reviews are authentic," the group states in a letter to the FTC. "When people lose trust in reviews, legitimate positive reviews no longer mean as much. Consumers lose. Honest companies lose. Dishonest companies win."

Trustpilot's director of trust and consumer, Carolyn Jameson, said her company is always looking for different ways to take on sellers of fake reviews and companies that try to manipulate opinions.

"Greater collaboration and exchange of ideas across the review industry through the Trustworthy Reviews Coalition will undoubtedly be a huge boost in the global fight against fraud and deception as we work to combat those who seek to undermine trust online," she said.

However, while coalition members stress the importance of collaboration, that doesn't mean they expect to start doing things the same way.

"Each platform has different rules and requirements when it comes to posting reviews, but we all agree that false or biased reviews have no place on our websites," Tripadvisor's Foley told PhocusWire in response to written questions. "We believe there is an opportunity to combat scammers as a common enemy while maintaining our own approaches to content moderation."

He said the group could not comment on specific areas of focus, although when asked if artificial intelligence could be employed more broadly, he said Tripadvisor continually examines the impact of generative AI on its practices.

"We see potential benefits in terms of better detection and management of fraudulent reviews, along with challenges from companies and individuals attempting to use generative AI to manipulate content on the platform," he said. "This year we have already removed more than 65,000 AI-generated reviews from our platform."

The Shiji Reviewpro Guest Experience Benchmark report provides a snapshot of the importance of customer reviews in the travel industry, at least for hotels. Its Q2 2023 report analyzed more than 3 million reviews and 9 million review comments for 9,500 hotels globally across 53 online review sources and travel agencies.

According to the report, Booking.com generated more than 39% of hotel reviews during that period, while Google ranked next with 32%, followed by Tripadvisor (10%) and Expedia (5%).

"With more than 300 million verified reviews from real guests on our platform, we are actively investing in ensuring the continued credibility of our program for both travelers and our partners," said Spencer Mott, chief security officer at Booking.com. "From machine learning fraud detection models to tailored tools for our teams of experienced moderators, we are continually improving our efforts, including through collaboration with this coalition of like-minded platforms. Together we can explore best practices and learn from each other, thereby increasing awareness across the industry for the benefit of an even broader range of consumers and businesses."

Expedia Group vice president of market experience and trust CJ Allen said the company uses technology not only to detect fake reviews, but also to help validate their integrity and transparency.

"Authentic reviews are crucial for travelers when booking accommodations, destinations and experiences," Allen said, adding, "Expedia Group is proud to participate in this coalition to combat these fake actors, who pose a direct threat to our industry's most valuable asset: trust."