Amazon has always been at war with fake reviewers, and back in April of this year Amazon filed it’s first actual lawsuit against a review creator who posted a fake review. Little did we know that was just the tip of the iceberg. This past week Amazon filed a lawsuit in Seattle, Washington against 1,114 defendants who offered false review services on Fiverr.com.
The lawsuit comes following an investigation from Amazon, which included purchasing fake customer reviews on Fiverr from people who promised five-star ratings and offered to allow purchasers to write reviews. While the company is seeking damages and an injunction against the fake reviewers, it’s unclear if Amazon will actually see this through to the end—or if it’s just a show to help prevent anyone from operating such a practice.
What is of interest is that the company did not name the Amazon sellers who hired them in the first place. Under the company’s legal arguments, those sellers would be liable, too. Furthermore Amazon did not sue Fiverr directly for permitting it’s users to offer fraudulent services – even thought that is against Fiverr’s policy. We’ll have to see how this one plays out.