TripAdvisor blocked almost one million fake reviews in 2020

Almost one million fake reviews were rejected or removed from TripAdvisor in 2020, the company has revealed.

The platform’s latest Review Transparency Report said that of the 26 million reviews posted in 2020, 3.6% were found to be fraudulent and 67% were stopped before they made it on to the website.

In total, TripAdvisor penalised 34,605 properties for fraudulent activity and banned 20,299 members for failing to abide by the platform’s community standards in 2020.

The company’s fraud investigators also identified 65 new paid review sites and blocked paid review submissions from a total of 372 different paid review sites last year.

TripAdvisor has long faced pressure from the hospitality industry to clamp down on false reviews on its platform. In 2018 the owner of a company selling fake reviews to hospitality companies was jailed for nine months by the Italian courts.

And in 2019 the platform was accused of failing to stop a torrent of fake five-star reviews for hotels, including a Travelodge site.

That same year TripAdvisor published its first Review Transparency Report and called on other review sites to take ‘aggressive action’ against fraudsters.

Becky Foley, head of trust and safety at TripAdvisor, said: “We know from our investigations that if a fraudster is trying to infiltrate TripAdvisor with fake reviews, then they are targeting other platforms as well - and they will always follow the path of least resistance. We must stay committed, working together and in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, to stop fake reviewers and protect travellers.”

To view TripAdvisor’s 2021 review transparency report in full click here.

Image: dafinchi / Shutterstock