The massive misleading reviews that are located on websites, cast doubt on the veracity of these pages. And, with it, the reliability of the consumer. It is for this reason that the authorities of 26 Member Statesin addition to Norway and Iceland, have carried out a research to solve this problem and get rid of doubts. This research has been developed from 223 websites.
The results showed that two-thirds of online stores, marketplaces, booking pages, search engines and price comparison sites have misleading or false reviews. That is why, the European Comission has decided to apply repression as these reviews violate the Unfair Commercial Practices directive.
“I insist on a specific point: online businesses must provide consumers with clear and visible information about the reliability of those reviews. Today’s results are a clear call to action. We will make sure that EU law is respected.” declares Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice it’s a statement.
misuse of reviews
In addition to being misleading and false, many reviews do not provide any useful information to the consumer. Research has shown that the 46% of web pages analyzed do not inform consumers of how they collect and process reviews.
Even the websites themselves have declared that they do not know how these false reviews arrive. As, a review is valid when a user has made a purchase of the product or service and really has a rating. You cannot put a review if you have not used anything on that platform.
The problem is in the misuse and development of reviews. In the investigation, the majority of the sample declared not knowing how to avoid the publication of false reviews since they have no idea how they can get there. Therefore, it would be necessary thoroughly research it to find out where the problem lies, and rethink whether reviews are really necessary or not. It is true that a large part of the population trusts a product or service, or even the website, through reviews, but what happens if more than half of the reviews are false? Is it still the same reliability? And, most importantly, how do you know if a review is fake or not?
Implement stricter laws to curb misleading reviews
Of course, nobody wants to be scammed when making a purchase over the Internet, and much less if you make the purchase relying on reviews. That is why the European Commission has decided iImplement stricter laws in order to eliminate the number of misleading reviews. Therefore, as of May of this year, a additional directive that prohibits selling, buying, and submitting false consumer reviews to promote products. In addition, the web pages of these companies will be obliged to inform consumers about the use and operation of the new reviews. “We will make sure that EU law is respected,” it states Reynders.
