Tripadvisor rejected or removed more than two million review submissions in 2020, with nearly 4% of those found to be fakes.
Last year, people submitted more than 26 million reviews to Tripadvisor and the online travel company said it rejected or removed more than two million of those, or nearly 9% of all submissions. The reasons included fraud or bias (40%), violating community standards (48%) and administrative reasons (12%). 943,205 reviews (4% of total reviews submitted) were identified to be fraudulent. Tripadvisor said around 70% of fake reviews were caught and removed before reaching the platform through its algorithm.
The company said the ten countries generating the most fake reviews in 2020 were India, Germany, Brazil, US, Pakistan, Greece, Argentina, Bangladesh, Turkey and Italy.
"We know from our investigations that if a fraudster is trying to infiltrate Tripadvisor with fake reviews, then they are targeting other platforms as well – and they will always follow the path of least resistance. We must stay committed, working together and in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, to stop fake reviewers and protect travellers," said Becky Foley, head of Trust and Safety at Tripadvisor.
Fake reviews have become a serious issue for tech platforms like Amazon, Google, Facebook and eBay.
