Fake reviews research

These are reviews that do not reflect an actual consumer's genuine experience of a good or service, and have been left in an attempt to manipulate consumer perception or target a particular business.

The policy proposals are currently in development and are subject to further evidence gathering and cost-benefit analysis. Although there are wide ranging estimates from various consumer groups and review sites on the prevalence of fake reviews,2,3,4 the evidence base on the harm they cause to consumers is relatively underdeveloped. Therefore, this research will provide high-quality evidence to the policy and analytical teams that cannot be achieved using internal resources primarily due to time constraints as well as some skill constraints.

Government plans to consult on the details of the developing policy proposals in due course.

An impact assessment (IA) assessing the costs and benefits of the policy options is expected to be published alongside the consultation. This research is intended to help develop the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and inform the policy solution. It is expected that the outputs of this research will:

 Improve understanding of the scale of the problem of fake reviews and how they impact consumers

 Influence the development of the policy by testing potential solutions and ensuring policy making is evidence based

 Provide evidence for the CBA which will assess the impacts of policy options, on both consumers and businesses.