You have probably rerad about the lawsuit that Amazon filed against more than 1000 Fiverr-users for leaving fake reviews on their website, camouflaged as „marketing-gigs“. Since I recommended using Fiverr in a previous posting, I feel obliged to leave a short note on this matter.
I believe that fake reviews suck.
They hurt everyone who is involved – not only the consumer, but also the author and the plattforms which aim to democratize the economy. Actually, I would even go as far as to claim that the readers are the ones who are the least hurt by fake reviews. Why? Because they are not stupid: They can identify fake reviews which are written in a weird marketing slang and will react by writing reviews which really tear the product apart. And that, as a logical consequence, hurts the supplier/author. And it also hurts companies like Amazon and Fiverr, since their reputation is damaged.
Therefore, Amazon does right by sueing these people, and Fiverr should do everything they can to cooperate with Amazon on this. Authors themselves should act as well: By not giving money to fraudsters who over fake reviews, but instead investing their energy in products that convince the consumer. After all, that is the only way to get positive reviews that actually matter.