The Canadian Competition Bureau has filed documents in federal court to investigate allegations that hundreds or thousands of individuals were paid to write fake reviews for Amazon products.
According to Federal Court records filed on June 21, 2023, anti-trust lawyers are investigating Facebook users who they suspect received cash or gifts to post positive reviews on Amazon.
“Based on my review of the records and information gathered over the course of the investigation I believe that certain product reviews and star ratings on the Amazon platform are likely fake reviews,” said an affidavit filed by Danielle McKenzie, a Competition Bureau lawyer.
“Recruiters use Facebook to recruit people to make fake reviews,” the lawyer wrote, as reported by Blacklock’s Reporter on June 26. “The inquiry concerns fake reviews including star ratings that are made on the Amazon platform,” her affidavit said.
“There are markets on social media such as Facebook where people are recruited to make fake reviews including star ratings,” she added. “Amazon subsequently makes representations that are based in whole or in part on the fake reviews. Consumers rely on these representations in making their purchasing decisions.”
The Competition Bureau has gone to federal court to compel Meta, which owns Facebook, to provide the names and addresses of 641 Canadian users. Any time a third party like Meta is required to give up information, a court order is required.
“At the outset the volume of information the Bureau proposes to request is quite significant,” responded Facebook counsel Miranda Spence of Aird & Berlis LLP of Toronto. Facebook management “understands the Commissioner of Competition has already narrowed the Bureau’s request from 3,000 to 800 Facebook accounts,” but said the initial investigation was so widespread it would involve thousands of Canadian user accounts.
The court was told that Facebook has 29.4 million users in Canada, for an annual revenue of US$2.95 billion.
Competition Bureau lawyers told the court they believe Facebook users have received cash or gifts to provide positive reviews of Amazon products they never purchased, which under Canadian law breaches the Competition Act.
The investigation began in 2021, with federal investigators posing as Facebook users under false names. “The team observed posts on Facebook review groups and linked images or descriptions in these posts to matching product listings on the Amazon platform,” according to McKenzie. “The posts observed by the team were either visible to the public or to all members of a group.”
“I believe people are receiving free products in exchange for making fake reviews of Amazon products and reselling these products on Facebook Marketplace,” wrote McKenzie. “There are certain Facebook Marketplace seller profiles that have listed a number of Amazon products for sale in ‘new’ or ‘used, like new’ condition using a copy of the product image and description from the Amazon platform,” said the Competition Bureau lawyer in court documents.
Neither Amazon nor Facebook has been charged with any offence or accused of any breach. It is not clear from the court records if Amazon is aware of the investigation. Amazon responded to an inquiry from The Epoch Times but was unable to provide further details by press time
In a March 2 statement, Amazon said it was continuing “to take action against fake review brokers.” The company said that it had filed lawsuits against six defendants in February 2023 in a legal effort to protect its customers and selling partners from fake reviews.
“The defendants sell fake review services to bad actors attempting to operate Amazon selling accounts. These fraudsters commit fraud by selling fake reviews, intentionally facilitate activities intended to deceive customers, and attempt to provide unfair competitive advantages over honest sellers in Amazon’s store,” said Amazon.
“We want Amazon customers to shop with confidence, knowing that the reviews they see are authentic and trustworthy,” said David Montague, Amazon’s vice president of Selling Partner Risk. “Amazon strictly prohibits fake reviews and has more than 12,000 employees around the world dedicated to protecting its stores from fraud and abuse.”
In 2022, Amazon said it took legal action against more than 90 “bad actors” who facilitated and solicited fake reviews.
Amazon dominates among online retailers, according to a 2019 Bank of Canada study, with the e-commerce industry accounting for $56 billion a year in sales by federal government estimates.