British regulators are investigating whether Amazon and Google have broken consumer protection laws by failing to protect shoppers from fake product reviews .
See also: Washington: Lawsuit against Amazon for violating competition principles
This is not the first time the two giants have been investigated. Amazon and Google have recently been the target of anti-competitive conduct investigations. Such investigations could lead to large fines and pressure the companies to change the way they do business.
See also: USA: Concern about the dominance of Google/Amazon's "smart" digital assistants in the market
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its formal investigation, which builds on a preliminary investigation launched last May, could force Amazon and Google to change how they deal with fake product reviews or face legal action.
“Our concern is that millions of online shoppers could be misled by reading fake reviews and then spend their money based on these data,” CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli. He added that many companies may be creating fake 5-star reviews to boost their products and services, which is unfair to businesses that do not use such unfair means to promote their own services.
A previous investigation by UK consumer group Which? found that there are many companies making money by modifying reviews on the Amazon.
Both Amazon and Google have said they are willing to cooperate with regulators during the investigation.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company dedicates “significant resources to preventing the emergence of fake reviews.” The company says it prevented 200 million reviews that appeared to be fake last year and earlier this month filed a lawsuit against the owners of two websites cited in Which?’s investigation.
On the other hand, a Google spokesperson said: “Our strict policies clearly state that reviews must be based on real experiences , and when we identify policy violations, we take action – from removing abusive content to disabling user accounts.”
European regulators are putting pressure on big tech companies, conducting various investigations against them.
On Tuesday, the European Union launched an antitrust investigation into Google's massive advertising business. A few weeks ago, it launched a similar investigation into Facebook.
See also: Google display ads: EU investigation into monopolistic tactics
Also last week, the CMA said it was investigating Apple and Google's dominance of mobile operating systems, app stores and web browsers.
Source: CNN International
