Amazon aims to abolish paid-for reviews

The internet is heralded as a great democratising tool; anyone, anywhere, can propel their thoughts around the world. The customer-review system of online retailer Amazon is one place where this supposedly prevails. Consumers can review products, collectively determining whether a new novel is a five-star modern classic, or a one-star flop. Rather than rely upon stuffy literary reviewers, the wisdom of the online crowd – and aggregation of normal people giving their disinterested views – directs readers towards their next paperback, in theory.

Amazon’s reviews are littered with such fake and paid-for reviews

Amazon is suing a number of websites that offer paid-for reviews. According to Amazon, Techno Buffalo reports, websites such as buyazonreviews.com and buyamazonreviews.com, “encouraged sellers to ship empty boxes to its reviewers to trick Amazon.” The websites then “offered verified five-star reviews for a high price, though some customers apparently opted for four-stars instead.”

Amazon strictly states that anyone with a financial interest in the book is barred from reviewing the product, yet Amazon’s reviews are littered with such fake and paid-for reviews. In 2011 The New York Times reported on such online review factories, telling the story of freelance writer Sandra Parker who was hired to review books on Amazon at $10 a piece.“We were not asked to provide a five-star review, but would be asked to turn down an assignment if we could not give one,” she told The New York Times.

Some authors have even cut out the middle-man, heading online themselves under the seeming anonymity of the internet. The historian Orlando Figes, was caught writing positive reviews of his own works and disparaging those of his colleagues. Under the unassuming username of ‘Orlando-Birkbeck’, the scholar wrote that his own book on Soviet family life was “a fascinating book … [that] leaves the reader awed, humbled, yet uplifted.” Despite the not so subtle user name, the historians that he wrote negative reviews about connected the account to Figes and raised the issue with him. After initially denying the allegations, Figes eventually apologised, admitting that he had written the Amazon reviews of his own books and others.

This is not the only challenge to the ideal behind Amazon reviews. There exists a strange world of pseudo-professional Amazon reviewers. Through the use of the tier system of reviewers on Amazon, the most prolific users gain e-notoriety. One such reviewer is Mandy Payne, a political consultant in Los Angeles, ranked tenth among Amazon reviewers. She has written thousands of product reviews and as a result now receives up to thirty products a day from companies, with the hope that she will review their products, reports the Boston Globe.

While the internet allows for anyone to contribute to book reviews and other public initiatives, the open nature of this lends itself to manipulation by those with financial and personal interests at stake. Wikipedia is supposed to be a public collaborative effort, but is fraught with editing by individuals or institutions who wish to be presented on the Website of Record in a different, usually more positive, light. Cornell University has even developed software called Review Skeptic that can be used to detect fake hotel reviews. While Amazon’s efforts to crack down on paid-for reviews will restore some integrity to its review system, other online review practices still need to be addressed. How this can be achieved without curtailing the open-platform aspect of reviews is unclear.