TripAdvisor's 'bad reviews'.

part 2

TripAdvisor, an online review platform, has dominated the travel e-commerce arena and now claims to be the largest travel site in the world, with more than 60 million members and over 170 million reviews. Readers are encouraged to post their own reviews of hotels, restaurants, attractions and destinations worldwide, online, and free of charge.

Unsubstantiated

Recently TripAdvisor has been criticised by various government watchdogs for allowing unsubstantiated and anonymous reviews to be posted about businesses online. Interestingly, some authorities have instituted measures to restrict the availability of, and access to, misleading information provided on this site.

In this 3 part series (updated daily) some of the reactions from authorities are canvassed. In this blog, part 1 started downunder. Today, in part 2, we fly to Italy for an assessment on its intriguing position, before a whirlwind tour of the UK in part 3.

Italy’s watchdog bites

In Italy, those found responsible for writing fabricated posts on forums such as TripAdvisor will be:

  • in violation of European law pursuant to the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive1; and
  • in breach of terms of service with TripAdvisor for engaging in unethical practice.2

Recently Tripadvisor has come under fire from the Italian Competition Authority who is investigating whether fake reviews are being posted online and assessing the adequacy of mechanisms used to identify fraudsters. TripAdvisor has assured the Italian authorities that its screening systems are effective and that it ‘fights fraud aggressively’.3 It advises that sophisticated algorithms are used to spot patterns of activity and that ‘strong penalties are enforced against wrongdoers’.4

Light touch?

A Tripadvisor spokesperson reported one Italian reviewer who allegedly stayed in 51 hotels in Paris, as well as 50 other hotels worldwide, in March 2013. By identifying patterns and connections TripAdvisor was able to remove this user who posted a total of 1,361 times between October 2013 and March 2014. No consequences other than the removal of these reviews has been reported – a fairly light touch regulation in Italy then.

Stay tuned

Tomorrow, part 3 makes the short hop to the UK where they are leading the way.


Related posts

TripAdvisor’s ‘bad reviews’ (part 1)
TripAdvisor’s ‘bad reviews’ (part 3)
TripAdvisor’s ‘bad reviews’ (part 4)


1TripAdvisor, Review Moderation and Fraud Detection
2Ibid
3TripAdvisor holds investigation after China site accused of suspicious activity

4TripAdvisor investigated over ‘fake reviews’ in Italy

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Categories:
Media & E-Commerce

Posted on: 13 November 2014